Ouroboros: Side Stories
by maneyan
Summary: A complement fic to "Naruto: Ouroboros" wherein we'll explore some of the other people in the Ouroboros version of the narutoverse. If you're interested, make sure to have read the main fic first.
1. A day in the life of a jinchuuriki

Ouroboros: Side Stories

A/N: So, what the heck is this then? This, my friends, is a small side project for my fic Naruto: Ouroborous. Here I will put stories not really relevant to the main plot but that might give a little more feeling for the universe in which Ouroboros takes place. Feel free to read or not, it will not spoil the main story if you haven't but if you're curious on this world and want to see it from other viewpoints, knock yourself out. Oh and as a note to the more seasoned readers: do not worry, I have made it a rule that these chapters will NOT be drabbles or any such things, they will be juicy 5000+ words chapters.

Ouroboros: A day in the life of a jinchuuriki.

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><p>"Okay everybody!" the scarred chuunin teacher yelled as the large group of academy students had gathered at the outskirts of training field five, an area about two kilometres across filled with the kind of giant trees that the fire country was known for. He was only barely audible over the commotion as the students were scuffling back and forth, the Sarutobi fan-club fighting over who would get to stands next to their of the students having started to wrestle due to impatience, the Nara having gone to sleep. The Akamichi currently working his way through a large bag of chips, being eagerly aided in this endeavour by the Inuzuka and the Hokage's daughter. One of the all to few students that were even the least well behaved was Uchiha Sasuke, the quiet, withdrawn ace student sitting with his bespectacled face buried in a book as always.<p>

"Sometimes this job is like herding cats," his silver-haired colleague said beside him, the man nearly chortling at the accurate description of it all. These kids were so hyperactive and so oblivious to what they were training for and he didn't have the heart to shatter those dreams and hopes. Still, their lack of order wasn't anything he was the least fond of.

"Shut up and listen up you little brats!" Iruka roared, getting most of the class to start in shock and some measure of order to be restored. Running a hand through his hair he sighed, he wasn't paid well enough for this. Having calmed down somewhat after this he continued. "Today you'll be working on long-distance runs. You'll split into three-man teams and compete in a relay-run, don't even think about it!" he added upon noticing the Sarutobi fan-club immediately moving to try to tag their beloved Konohamaru for being in their team. "Mizuki-sensei and I will be the ones to choose the teams. The obstacle course will be marked with red bands, you need to reach the end two kilometres away and collect one of these scrolls from there," he held up one of the scrolls to show the group.

"Furthermore don't try to sabotage your classmates," his colleague added, "Also you'll be expected to stay in the trees, if you touch the ground it's an instant loss for your team. And believe me, Iruka-sensei and I will know since the ground between here and the goal currently consists of hip-deep mud." The look on the Konohamaru-fangirls' face nearly made both Iruka and Mizuki chuckle as pure horror played across their faces at the prospect of being drenched in mud.

"The teams are as follows," Iruka begun and started to divide his class into ten different teams. To the great despair of the fangirls none of them ended up in Konohamaru's trio, those places being taken by Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. Iruka was grateful that there was no outright wailing this time but the girls still seemed utterly devastated. He just thanked the gods that the girl who definitely would have wailed, Namikaze Kimiko, the daughter of the Hokage, wasn't a fangirl, she could be extremely vocal if she wanted and the thought of her being a Sarutobi fangirl was horrifying to say the least.

In the end the teams were all ready and Iruka looked across the trios that had formed. Thankfully he had managed to balance it so that none of the fangirls were on the same team. He couldn't for the love of the gods not understand how girls who were so devoted to the same cause and who worked as one still were so vehemently hostile against each other.

"Teams one to five will begin," he yelled, "To the starting lines and choose in what order you will run. You have ten minutes each, failing to make it within that timeframe means an instant loss for your team. Get set," he raised his arm "GO!" the five academy students were all away, moving with decent speed all of them.

"A shame they aren't a bit older," Mizuki whispered, "I'm thinking it could be very interesting to see some of the fangirls land in the mud." Iruka only glared at his friend and colleague now however. He did like Mizuki's humour usually but joking about students like that was taboo to him. Eventually Mizuki lowered his head in a gesture of apology and Iruka sighed before he turned to look towards the remaining teams.

One of the most noticeable teams were the team consisting of Namikaze Kimiko, Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Hinata. Even though the shy Hyuuga wasn't doing more than sitting on a log, the girl effortlessly sitting in seiza position, Kiba and Kimiko were more than compensating for it. Unlike most of the girls in the current class Kimiko was all for physical activity, the girl loved nothing more than a good bit of exercise, be it taijutsu, obstacle-courses or what have you. She was currently bouncing up and down, punching into the air to warm herself up. Normally he'd recommend her to stop, it was thirty minutes until they'd begin, but Kimiko never ran out of energy, _ever_. Kiba was currently stretching, the Inuzuka boy taking it a bit easier but still making sure to keep himself active.

"Come on Hinata-chan!" Kimiko said to the heiress of the Hyuuga, grinning widely as she thought about the race that lay ahead, this would be fun! "Don't just sit there, warm up!" Kimiko was currently busy stretching, her orange jacked unzipped and her equally orange pants already a bit stained. Her red pigtails swung behind her whiskered face as she made a spin. However Hinata only shook her head.

"I'm fine Kimiko-san," she declined Kimiko's invitation softly. Kimiko stopped now and bent her knees. Taking a deep breath she shot into the air, managing to complete a full backwards somersault and land on her feet.

"Yeah!" she yelled triumphantly as Kiba cheered for her in the background. Making the victory sign towards Kiba she dragged Hinata to her feet.

"Come on now Hinata-chan," she said again, "You'll grow stiff if you keep sitting like that, work up some sweat." Hinata was unable to resist as the nearly one full head shorter girl dragged her away from the log and tugged at the zipper of her jacket. "And get this coat off, it's only in the way!" Hinata squealed and tried to stop Kimiko but the tiny girl was too quick and the zipper went down with a loud and short zipping sound. However before she managed to take it off Hinata Kimiko froze, her jaw dropping a moment later.

Hinata quickly stepped back and held the coat tightly around her, turning around with her face bright red. Behind her, Kimiko was standing with her mouth wide open and her eyes widened, the former moving up and down like that of a fish.

"Th..." Kimiko stuttered after a few seconds. "That's not fair!" She said, raising one hand to point at Hinata, who still was turned away with her face beet red. After a few seconds Hinata's eye widened however as Kimiko had gotten up to her from behind and wrapped her arms around Hinata, now groping her chest. "Are you stuffing or something," Kimiko asked with her eyes still wide in shock as she groped Hinata's chest. The girl couldn't understand how a twelve-year old could be so well grown. She herself hadn't even started to get boobs yet! "How the heck did you get them so big?" Kimiko continued as Hinata's mouth was wide open now, the girl's entire face a visage in pure horror as she tried to comprehend what was happening.

Before she could do so however, a thud was heard from the side and Kimiko turned to look towards their teammate only to discover that Kiba had suddenly collapsed, blood streaming from his nose as he was lying on his back, not moving. Akamaru had run up to his owner now and was barking at the limp shape of Kiba but the dog-boy didn't respond. Kimiko stared dumbly at the scene, her eyes blinking, before Hinata went limp in her grip.

Sagging down to the ground and only partially held up by Kimiko's grip, the Hyuuga heiress followed Kiba into unconsciousness. Kimiko's head snapped to look forwards, shock evident on her face as she tried to handle the limp Hinata somehow.

"Senseeeeei!" she yelled after a second, "My teammates fainted!"

Over by the teachers' spot Iruka had witnessed the entire incident and he was now gritting his teeth, counting backwards from one hundred as a twitch was starting to develop in his eyebrow. Meanwhile his colleague was currently bending over as he clutched his stomach to stop himself from howling with laughter.

"I..." Mizuki croaked, tears forming in his eyes, "Gods I wished they were a bit older." Thankfully only Iruka heard him and he was already busy stomping over to Kimiko to give her the dressing down of her lifetime, as he seemed to have to do daily.

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><p>Kimiko was in a very sour mood when she got back to the academy. That proved it, Iruka-sensei hated her. There was no other explanation. She hadn't meant for that to happen! But Iruka-baka had chewed her out anyhow! Even when she had done really great at the run, she had been first in her team, he had only given her a glare as she came back. It wasn't fair! Getting into her seat, Kimiko folded her arms and begun to sulk.<p>

"Cheer up Kimiko-chan," Sakura said next to him, her friend pushing at her a bit. "You did well today didn't you?"

"Hmh!" Kimiko grunted, not placated by this at all. It was all so unfair! Students kept entering the room to sit down for the last review for the day or whatever. Neither of the senseis were anywhere to be seen though.

"Come on!" Sakura insisted, "I mean it wasn't like you ended up in the mud, right?"

"It's not that!" Kimiko snapped now. Sitting up, she gave voice to her frustration. "I swear that Iruka-baka is out to get me!" she screamed now, not caring or even noticing that the entire class turned to look at her. Sakura's eyes widened now and she leaned back. "Every time I ever do anything he's always on me and yells at me! It's not my fault that things happen!"

"Kimiko-chan!" Sakura hissed now, motioning for her to calm down, Kimiko didn't however.

"I swear," she kept yelling, "just because I'm the Hokage's daughter that stupid meanie has decided he's gonna try to blame me for every little thing that happens! Like with that time with the glue! How was I supposed to know that was superglue? And if he hadn't tried to pick the paper up none of that would have happened!"

"Shut up!" someone yelled from the other side of the room and Kimiko made a rude gesture in that direction.

"You shut up!" she yelled before turning back to her friend.

"Kimiko-chan!" Sakura hissed now, a bit louder, making nodding motions towards behind her. Kimiko still didn't care.

"He's just being unfair! I bet he's trying to take revenge on me because he was too bad at being a ninja and got stuck here at school!" the girl continued her tirade, "I hope he goes bald soon... and fat too! That stupid, unfair, scarfaced meanie!" Now however a hand landed on her head, making Kimiko freeze immediately.

"Oh really?" Iruka's voice said behind her, smooth as velvet, and Kimiko whimpered. Oh no... Iruka was behind her now, leaning in over her shoulder so he looked at her from the side. He towered there behind her like a demon with the smile of a nightmare ready to pounce upon her. Light itself seemed to vanish around her and only she and Iruka was left in an abyss of terror. "Why don't you stay here for a little while Kimiko-san?" Iruka said now, Kimiko feeling how she trembled, no, no, no... this wasn't good at all, not one bit! Was that what Sakura-chan had tried to warn her about? Why was she so stupid that she didn't get it?

"Class is over for the rest of you!" Now Iruka spoke to the others. "Tomorrow will be taijutsu so make sure to bring what you'll need for that. Dismissed." The rest of the class left now, most of them through the door but Sarutobi Konohamaru, noticing that the way out seemed to be blocked by fangirls, walked over to the window. One of his fans came up to him to ask him whether or not he wanted to go home with her but before she could say anything Konohamaru opened the window and raised one hand to shut her up. Getting into the window, the dour, sour grandson of the third Hokage looked back one last time. He looked straight at Kimiko and for one second, Kimiko could see how the contempt dripped off him as he sighed and shook his head before leaping out of the window, no doubt landing perfectly on the ground below too, the smug dummy.

Sakura however remained behind, hesitating to leave. She stood by her seat for a short while, intending to wait for Kimiko. "You can leave too Haruno-san." Iruka said after about ten seconds, still holding onto Kimiko's head. Sakura looked one last time at Kimiko before leaving, not wanting to get on Iruka's bad side, especially not now. So she left, leaving Kimiko alone with Iruka-sensei and hardly had the door closed before Iruka spoke up.

"You might want to step up to the teacher's desk Namikaze-san." Iruka said now, still having that smile in his voice and Kimiko stiffly obeyed, walking almost robotically down towards it. A sense of dread was building in her. Twice in one day, this wasn't good. When she gave Iruka-sensei reason to yell at her twice in one day... it wasn't a good thing. Iruka-sensei could be scary, very scary, and when he yelled at her the second time in one day he was very, very scary. Swallowing, Kimiko watched as Iruka-sensei walked around her and got behind the desk.

"Now." he begun mildly, "Perhaps you would like to repeat what you told Haruno-san?" Kimiko swallowed, having a feeling she wouldn't survive this.

* * *

><p>About an hour later Kimiko walked out of the classroom, feeling slightly stomped upon after what just had happened. Iruka-sensei didn't hold back at all. When he wanted her to feel bad, he made her feel bad and it was a slightly squashed Kimiko that left the room, closing the door and beginning to head for the exit. Ugh... this was the worst day ever... Yelled at twice and she had homework waiting for her at home as well! And she didn't even have any pocket money to go and buy ramen with to cheer herself up! Kimiko decided to head home quickly, feeling very sullen at the moment. Beginning down the corridor, she picked up the pace since right now she didn't want to be here for even a second more than necessary. With a scowl on her face she walked as fast as she could with her hands in her pockets, too focused on sulking to notice when she walked around a corner that someone was coming from the other direction. Said person crashed into her and she into him and they both fell down to the floor.<p>

"Ow!" Kimiko yelled, angrily looking up to see who she had crashed into. In a rain of notes that had been thrown into the air she saw one of her classmates, Sasuke. The guy had been thrown to the ground and was currently rubbing his face. She seemed to have head-butted him right in the nose.

"Can't you ever look where you are going?" her classmate asked angrily, adjusting the thick glasses he wore. Looking around, the class' number one nerd sighed. "God damn it..." he said as he watched his notes. Kimiko looked around as well and felt a bit stupid.

"Sorry..." she said sheepishly, "my mind was elsewhere." Despite her foul mood she felt a bit embarrassed over herself and begun to gather up the notes. "Let me help you pick them up." she said quickly.

"Hmh..." was all Sasuke said in response. Kimiko didn't mind however, that's how he was. Despite being the ace in the class the boy she now helped gather his notes always was so withdrawn, shy even. With thick glasses and unruly hair, the little brother of Uchiha Itachi was as different from his brother as could be. Strange thing was that she remembered him from the first months as an active, tough guy much like Konohamaru but he had steadily retreated into this nerdy appearance. Kimiko felt kinda sorry for him, he seemed so lonely all the time. That's why she had made it a goal in her life to be friendly with him.

"Were you staying in the library after school again?" she asked him as they picked up the notes, knowing he always did that. "What did you look up this time? Some jutsu or something?"

"Yeah..." Sasuke said, not saying too much more. Kimiko assumed he was just shy.

"That's cool," she said, "I bet your family knows lots of cool jutsu they can teach you too. What jutsu are you looking forward to learning the most? I wanna learn Shunshin no jutsu." Now Sasuke stopped for a second.

"I don't really have a favourite jutsu," he said, "All of them are useful, it's all about finding the right way to use them."

"Yeah sure," Kimiko said, "But really, if you can move just like that," she snapped her fingers, "I mean imagine the possibilities. You could get away with anything. If they think you've done something you can be all like "woosh!" and then you're over there and can be all like "what, I was just over here!" Kimiko grinned at the thought. If she only knew that jutsu then Iruka-baka would get what was coming to him. Now Sasuke looked at her, his eyes visible through the thick glasses.

"I don't plan to learn jutsu just to prank with them," he said icily. "We are about to become shinobi, warriors who will have to be in life or death situations constantly."

"Yeah, sure, sure," Kimiko agreed. "That's of course true but still, if you can have some fun with it, why not?" Sasuke sighed.

"Sometimes I wonder how exactly your brain works," he said, taking the last of his notes from her. Kimiko grinned, taking it as a compliment.

"My brother says that too," she told him. "I'm just one big mystery!" she said happily. That was a good ninja quality, she knew that much.

"Mystery is the word." Sasuke said, shuffling his notes together into a neat pile, "bye." With that, he left heading for the library again.

"Bye!" Kimiko said, waving after him. Yeah Sasuke was an alright sort. Being in a better mood, Kimiko begun down the stairs and headed for the exit. Iruka's berating had come and gone out of her mind and now she was in her usual mindset again, skipping as she moved down the stairs and out of the building. The courtyard was empty at the moment and she wasn't planning to occupy it for too long, instead dear dashing towards the exit and towards home. Freedom!

Still, there seemed to be someone out to get her, when she dashed out of the courtyard she collided with yet another person. She moved too fast and was unable to stop herself before she crashed into the poor person walking there like a freight train, ending up tripping over something and crashing into the ground face first.

"Hey watch it you..." the other person yelled before she stopped. Kimiko, neither hurt nor startled, only looked up and saw to her surprise one of her friends, Yamanaka Ino.

"Hey Ino-chan!" Kimiko greeted her happily. If she was gonna bump into anyone her friends really were the best candidates. Ino blinked at her but smiled soon in the end too.

"As clumsy as always I see," she said as she extended a hand to help Kimiko up. The other girl took it and got to her feet. Yet, even then she only reached up roughly to Ino's head, her eyes were on the same level as Ino's shoulders. She hated being short. "So you got to go home at last?" Ino asked her now and Kimiko nodded, giving her friend a grimace.

"Yeah," she said, "Not until Iruka-baka took his sweet time time to yell at me though." Ino raised one eyebrow, doing that curious look Kimiko had tried to emulate time and time again. She didn't look that kind of "stupid curious" Kimiko always looked like, instead she looked "cool curious".

"Are you really surprised about that though?" she asked, "I mean really, yelling with him right behind you that you want him to be bald?" Ino couldn't stop herself now and the last words were giggled and a smile settled on her friend's face.

"How was I supposed to know he was there?" Kimiko defended herself, Ino only looking at her with that "Ino-look", that look that told you you were being super-stupid and that she pitied you for it. There was something about it and Kimiko found herself wincing under it. "Yeah yeah..." she muttered, "But really, I don't get why he has to yell at me when my teammates faint," she continued, desperate to keep at least some dignity.

"A tip next time," Ino said with a chuckle, "Don't grope Hinata. Those parts are well, kinda sensitive." Ino winked at her and Kimiko only blinked in confusion.

"Really?" she said, "I mean, I don't get that, what's the deal. If I try that on myself nothing special happens, there's nothing weird about it," she patted herself up and down her chest to show. She just didn't get what the big deal was.

Ino rolled her eyes. "You'll know one day Kimiko," the girl said now and Kimiko grunted. Yeah that was how it was wasn't it? She was still flat and looked pretty much like she had done when she was ten years old. Ino and even Sakura, not to MENTION Hinata, all had grown and filled out, becoming more and more woman-like while she still looked like a little kid.

"Well jeez, sorry for not knowing," Kimiko told Ino. "It's not my fault. Besides, It's not like I enjoy being flat either." Folding her arms behind her head, Kimiko looked away. She didn't say it but she was jealous, very jealous, of Ino's length and her curves. Ino was one of the first girls who got boobs while Kimiko still hadn't gotten any.

"Hey don't worry about that Kimiko-chan," Ino ruffled her friend's hair. "You're young, it'll come sooner or later."

"Hhm," Kimiko muttered, not content at all with that answer. Now Ino brought out the heavy weapons however.

"Hey stop sulking!" the girl said to her. Poking Kimiko in the ribs – something that made the little redhead squeal in protest – Ino glared at her with a dry look. "Don't think that I'm not jealous of you too. I mean seriously! You eat ramen all the time and you don't even gain an ounce of fat! Seriously, I have to watch my weight all the time and you don't even care but still remain slim as a beanpole. You know what I'd give for having that ability?" Kimiko sighed at this.

"So what," she said, "I want what you have and you want what I have? I should ask oniisan to make some kinda switch-machine-thing for that."

"Or just be happy with who you are," Ino told her, "Seriously, I swear that sometimes you and Sakura are both two little walking complexes."

"Yeah... hey wait..." Kimiko blinked now. "Wasn't that something you did?" she looked to her friend now, "You gave Sakura-chan that ribbon to have in her hair so people wouldn't notice her forehead, right?"

"Yeah, how so?"

"Couldn't you do something like that for me?" Kimiko wondered, "Isn't there some hairstyle or something that could make me look taller?" Ino blinked at this.

"Uhm..." she begun, "I don't think so..." thinking for a second, Ino suddenly burst out giggling. Her friend raised both hands to her mouth and covered it, beginning to giggle like crazy.

"What?" Kimiko asked, "What is it?"

"Is..." Ino giggled, hard enough that she could hardly even stand up, "Is an afro okay?" she forced out and Kimiko's eyes shot open in shock.

"Oh no, no, no, no, no!" Kimiko exclaimed, horrified by the very idea. Waving her hands frantically, she showed with all possible clarity what a bad idea that was. Ino only grinned however.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes, yes," she giggled, raising her hands as she advanced on Kimiko. The Hokage's daughter took one step back in fear. "Come here now," Ino sing-songed, making Kimiko take another step back before she turned around and fled, screaming as she did so. Ino was left behind, laughing so hard that she bent over as her friend vanished around the next corner.

* * *

><p>"And then sensei just started yelling at me again!" Kimiko exclaimed as she sat by the kitchen table, waving her arms around. She was aggravated enough that she flailed with her chopsticks in her hands. "It's like he's out for me and... what's wrong with you two!" she yelled, seeing that her parents weren't giving her the kind of support she wanted from them. In fact, her mother was standing by the sink, leaning against it with her hands covering her face. She was also shivering at the moment. Her father, meanwhile, was bent over the table, his body twitching every now and then as he held his chopsticks in a vice-like grip.<p>

"Kimiko...chan..." Her mother begun, her voice strained and tense like a feather. "You... you can't grope your classmates..." That was also all she had time to say before Minato bust out laughing. The Yondaime Hokage begun to howl with laughter. He begun to slam his palm into the table as the mirth became unbearable, Kimiko quickly turning more and more red.

"What's wrong with you!" she yelled again, this time getting up and pointing an accusing finger at her parents! "Iruka-sensei's is bullying me all day and you just laugh at it!" Minato, having calmed down somewhat, managed to sit up and wave a denying hand towards his daughter. Tears were running down his face from all the laughing and he was somewhat red in the face.

"Kimiko-chan..." Minato managed to squeeze out now before he burst out laughing once again. Meanwhile, his daughter folded her arms on the table and buried her face in it, deciding to sulk. Even her parents were being mean to her, this wasn't fair at all! "By all gods Kimiko-chan..." her father said after a whole. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry, but I'm going to have to take Iruka-sensei's side on this."

"What?" Kimiko yelled now, incensed at her dad. "Why?" she screamed at the top of her lungs only to have a ladle bop her over the head. "Ow!"

"Don't scream at the table," her mother said as she came up to the table with the food in her other hand. Putting the bowl down on the table, she was still smiling to herself, "let's eat then." Kimiko rubbed her head surly now, giving her mother a massive scowl. When she saw what they were having however she lost her bad mood. Pork curry!

"Yum!" Minato said happily and soon they were all digging in. Kimiko especially scarfed down, happy they were having her second most favourite dish (ramen was and would always be number one). The issue with Iruka-sensei soon became forgotten as she and her parents begun to talk about everything between heaven and earth and it would take until the end of dinner before Kimiko's mood crashed again. As she helped her father clean up the table that one question came, the one that would destroy the good mood and make Kimiko despair.

"So how is your homework going?"

* * *

><p>The evening that day found Kimiko sitting by her workdesk inside her chaotic room, staring down at the desk by the window. Amongst the clutter covering it and indeed most of her room a scroll lay. Illuminated by the bright orange lamp hanging from the ceiling it lay there, grinning at her. Homework... the bane of all good emotions. A lump formed in her throat as she looked on the scroll they were meant to have decoded until next week... Her normal tactics of procrastinating until the last moment wouldn't work here. This was a week's solid work. A week of boring as heck numbers and diagrams. Why was she so bad at this?<p>

"Looks like you already got started," a voice said behind her, making Kimiko jump into the air with fright. Spinning around with her heart pounding, she was overjoyed when she saw who it was. In the doorway the second of her two best friends stood with her arms folded and a crooked smile on her face. Haruno Sakura.

"Sakura-sama!" Kimiko yelled, throwing herself at the feet of her friend. "I beg you Sakura-sama, please save me from the horrors of homework. Don't let it take meeeee!" however all her melodramatic and cheesy act did was to make Sakura laugh, at the sight of Kimiko prostrating herself like that the girl almost collapsed. Kimiko looked up at her friend and smiled at the sight and sound of Sakura's laughter. Getting to her feet, she closed the door behind Sakura and pushed her friend into the room. "Come on, please, help."

"Okay okay," Sakura said, "That's why I came over anyhow."

"Thank you Sakura-sama!" Kimiko thanked her friend with teary eyes, "You are my best friend ever!" Sakura looked back at Kimiko with a wide smile.

"I am aren't I?" she said, getting something wicked in her face all of a sudden. Kimiko spotted it just too late and all of a sudden Sakura tore Kimiko around, pushing her into the chair and before the girl could do anything Sakura had tied her belt to the backrest. "But you're not getting away from doing your homework," she sing-songed as she opened the scroll.

"Noooo..." Kimiko protested weakly, not managing to get free. She rocked back and forth, trying to loosen the bonds somehow. Sakura bopped her on the head with a ruler now however.

"Eyes on the desk Kimiko," she warned, holding the ruler under Kimiko's jaw. The girl shut up at once, thinking about how tyrannical her friend could be.

They had been a curious trio back during the first years in the academy. Ino had been the popular girl who everyone liked. Sakura had been a shy, withdrawn girl who nobody thought about other than when they mentioned her big forehead. Kimiko meanwhile had been pretty much as she was now, got into trouble all the time and hated school. Yet it was via Sakura their friendship had been forged. Sakura had been teased about her forehead by some bullies in another class but Ino had defended Sakura, tricking her by stuffing a flower in the bully's mouth and saying it was poisonous. After that they had been close as could be.

Kimiko had come into that group when later the bully had returned and pushed Sakura into a puddle of water. She hadn't had many friends back then, the girls thought she was too wild and the boys were afraid of cooties so she was mostly on her own. However she hadn't been able to stand what she saw there and when the bully started throwing gravel at Sakura and said mean things about her forehead, Kimiko had leaped down from the tree she was sitting in and landed on the bully whereupon she had proceeded to rip out the girl's hair as good as she could, wanting to give the stupid meanie an even bigger forehead. Kimiko had torn out at least six handfuls of hair when she had been pulled off, still snarling at the girl as mean old Suzume-sensei dragged her away. She had been grounded for a week and gotten an extra week when she blindly refused to apologise to the girl. Totally worth it though.

After that they had become friends. Kimiko's will to protect Sakura and Sakura's gratitude had been the beginning for the trio of best friends. Sakura had once said that she was the brain, Ino the heart and Kimiko the muscle of the group. Like with Ino though Kimiko envied Sakura a bit, her soft pink hair and gentle green eyes were things Kimiko had wished for many times, not to mention her smarts! Sakura was top in the class in many things, code-cracking being just one of them. Kimiko meanwhile was awful at it, never managing to understand it at all.

Yet, as it was now she was tied to her chair and Sakura, with a ruler in hand, dragged her through every last line of the horrible code. Whenever Kimiko begun to whine she got a smack on the head with the ruler and Sakura didn't show any mercy.

"Come on Kimiko-chan," Sakura said, "If X means G here, then that means that in this section the code is..."

"Uuhhh..." Kimiko said, her eyes spinning and her head hurting. She didn't know! She thought X had been P! "If X is G... that means that P is F, doesn't it?"

"Yeah!" Sakura said, nodding as she smiles sunnily at her. "Keep going."

"But the vowels are the other way around, meaning that E is... A?" she asked after a second, getting affirmation from Sakura. "And then... that makes it a cross-code... meaning that the answer is C." Slowly, slowly, like crawling uphill through mud, Kimiko's mind got through the muddle of numbers and letters. Sakura applauded her now.

"Good work Kimiko-chan!" she said. "Tell you what, I'll let you free if you swear to not run. Okay?" Sakura looked as angelic as always but under that surface was a demon, she just knew that!

"Fine..." she muttered and Sakura reached back to undo the knot. Kimiko felt such deep relief when she finally got free and felt such an urge to dash for the windows. Yet, she had promised and therefore remained on her seat, suffering through the torture of decoding. But for all Sakura's tyranny Kimiko couldn't think of a person she'd rather have here now. Scattered laughs could be heard from the room soon and after some more time squeals came, the decoding starting to see spots of inactivity as fierce tussles broke out between Sakura and Kimiko.


	2. Brothers of the Uchiha

Ouroboros: Brothers of the Uchiha

* * *

><p>Amongst the shinobi of all villages loyalty is paramount. It is the virtue extolled above all else, even in a village such as Konoha. Honour, charity, respect for your foe. In the end all those things were detrimental to one's work as a shinobi. Their clients expect results and the shinobi must deliver, lest their village suffers for it. Thus, their honour is named loyalty. To see the village triumph and thrive was the foremost of all rewards a shinobi could get. At least, such was the case for Uchiha Itachi, commander of Konoha's special assassination and tactics unit, the ANBU.<p>

Wearing his ANBU field outfit along with the cat mask, the grim commander looked down at the ground from his upside down position on the ceiling of the large warehouse. Behind the mask his eyes were calmly watching the warehouse below, scanning every nook and cranny of it. Intel had suggested that a large group of renegade shinobi were in the region and would meet in here. It would be a routine job, were it not for the fact that at least one S-class missing-nin was expected to be present. It was a harsh lesson ANBU had learned during the war, against S-class shinobi they fell flat. Such shinobi would cut them through like a scythe through wheat, necessitating other measures. That was why Itachi had formed what had been named "Tenchuu group", a special cadre within the ANBU specializing in fighting S-class shinobi. Pride went before the fall as they said, tenchuu, "heaven's judgement" was a fitting, if somewhat dramatic, name for the group. Half a dozen of men and women from this group were hiding with him, just waiting for the time to strike.

They had been waiting here for seven hours now, none of them saying anything, none of them even moving. All of them just hid there, amongst the shadows, their white masks turned towards the floor. For many it would be a trying ordeal indeed merely to do this. Itachi didn't even think about it however. It was that familiar to him, this waiting. When it was time to strike he'd start by opening the first gate, reinvigorating his body without anyone being able to notice it. Then estimate how he'd have to leap to be able to strike already before landing. Grab the sword on his back, release the grip on the ceiling and then fall. Aim with the eye, strike with the arm, kill with the mind. It was all routine, even second nature to him.

Starting to work as a shinobi at the age of four did that to you. He had been a little child during the last shinobi war and Konoha, desperate for more men, had sent the by then only four year old prodigy out into the field to serve. He had fought; He had triumphed; He had killed. When the war ended and he was only five years old he already stood on a mountain of corpses, men women, old, young, they had all fallen because they did not expect a little child to be so lethal. He had been celebrated, extolled as the perfect Uchiha and amongst the foremost of Konoha's warriors, even with such illustrious people as the sannin and not the least Namikaze Minato to measure up to.

There were movement below and Itachi calmly took note of it. His heart didn't even begin to pound. It wasn't time for that yet, so it didn't. His entire body was like a well-oiled machine, responding to his commands only, no actions or changes whatsoever were allowed lest he gave his silent permission. Eleven people, six of them looking like simple trash, the shinobi who had become missing nins since they failed a chuunin exam, messed up a mission or some such pathetic thing, the scum of the shinobi world. The remaining five however were something else.

The first of the men down there was the missing-nin Rokushō Aoi, a Konoha traitor who now wore an Amegakure headband. Itachi's face curled in a slight expression of disgust. He remembered that man from his younger years, an instructor who had tried to make one of his pupils steal the word of the thunder god, telling him it was his chuunin exam. The boy had been caught however and Aoi had fled the country, going to Ame. A pathetic, power-hungry traitor serving only himself, Itachi found himself wishing once that Hokage-sama would have approved his request to create a cadre of Konoha hunter-nins like Kiri had. This man was even more wretched than any of the people around him and Itachi could think of few more worthy tasks than hunting him down. Yet, he was powerful, worthy of his jonin rank, and in these last years he'd only have grown further. What more, down below he also saw the trio known as the Criminal brothers, three bloodline users whose abilities put them easily on par with Aoi, if not even beyond his. This despite them not even being shinobi. Lastly, the thief Gosunkugi, a near legend feared equally much for his skill as his bloodthirst, the man gladly killed whomever came in his way. A fine collection of high-level scum indeed. It didn't matter in the end though, they were all dead men.

They begun to talk down on the ground now. Something about an attempt to conquer a smaller kingdom. The arrogance of these missing nin was almost amusing, to think they believed themselves so grand that they could attack and take over entire nations. Itachi decided he had heard enough and made a quick motion with his hand to the other members of his team. They all let go of their handholds in the ceiling and soundlessly fell through the air, their swords coming out of the scabbards.

It wasn't a battle. Said word implies both sides had a chance and even more so time to do anything. These people hadn't. In singular moments they were all cut down, ruthlessly killed without any mercy or pity shown or given. Itachi personally targeted Aoi, his sword piercing the man's rotten, traitorous heart from behind before he could do more than open his eyes wide in surprise.

"What... but..." the man said, staring down at the blade sticking out of his chest. Itachi didn't let him finish, instead he drew out the sword and decapitated the man. None of the others had had any more of a chance, all of the targets were dead in mere seconds and their blood now ran across the floor.

"Dispose of the bodies," the commander of the ANBU said, his subordinates obeying without a word. Once more the trash had been taken out, the scum and wretches threatening Konoha dealt with. For today at least. Itachi knew there would be more of them eventually. They always came again, traitors, enemy villages and criminals, all of them scum who threatened the peace of Konoha. Wiping his sword and sheathing it, Itachi grimly wondered if it'd ever end. Probably not and that was why he was here. Around him the bodies were disposed of by his subordinates who used special seal tags that made the corpses dissolve into a thick, oily smoke that soon would disperse. Within a minute there was not a single trace of the fact that several people had died in here.

"Move out," Itachi commanded now, the Tenchuu group vanishing all in blurs of motion as they leaped up towards the ceiling and out through the open window there. For any outside observer it would have seemed like these missing nins entered this building and then simply never came out again, having gone up in smoke. A well executed mission; through careful and meticulous deployment they were done in moments and were minutes later dashing through the trees outside the town they had been in back home towards Konoha.

* * *

><p>"...we set up in the ceiling and when the targets had all entered we struck. They had no time to put up a resistance and were all dealt with quickly. We exfiltrated the area seventy-five seconds later," Itachi finished his report. Kneeling in front of the hokage, the prodigy of the Uchiha clan gave his report with head lowered and humble voice. The yondaime Hokage, the yellow flash of Konoha and its greatest shinobi ever, sat with his hands clasped and his back against the backrest of his chair as he listened.<p>

"That's one headache dealt with," the man said now.

"For now," Itachi added, Minato smiling.

"All doom and gloom as usual Itachi-san?" he said with a chuckle. "Yes, for now perhaps, but it was no less well done for that."

"What is my next mission Hokage-sama?" Itachi continued, the Hokage now surprising him.

"You're going to be on standby for the coming weeks, as will all ANBU."

"Sir?" Itachi looked up. This was unexpected.

"When we intercepted the blood-nins at Hizuri pass we used a special gas developed by R&D," Minato said, "Namikaze Naruto was along for the mission to monitor its effectiveness. However, when he came back he claimed that those blood-nins had to be Orochimaru's creations and that the man must have a much larger network of laboratories than initially thought. He is at the moment on a mission to find and deal with the remaining labs. If he needs to, you will provide backup."

"I understand Hokage-sama," Itachi said, not revealing the suspicions that instantly awoke in him. Revealed only now? How convenient, right after this battle was over he had only happened to remember that Orochimaru's network was bigger than originally thought? And now he was let loose to do as he pleased? Itachi had a bad feeling about it but did not say anything, "the ANBU will be ready to assist."

"Good." Minato said, "he headed out only a few days ago. I doubt he'll call on you this fast. Take that chance to have some time off. Go see your family."

"Thank you for your generosity Hokage-sama," Itachi bowed his head once more. It made him glad to be given this. As an ANBU one was expected to cut off all familial relations for as long as one served. However Minato had several years ago eased up on the restrictions; so long as one did not give away any information one could get permission for family visits. Itachi had not been home for nearly a year and had spent many hours during downtime thinking about his family. If his father had begun to forgive him yet; if his mother was doing well and especially how his little brother was doing. "Is there anything more you need of me?" he was eager now. Even if he didn't show it he wanted to get back to his clan's district as soon as possible. Minato only smiled.

"No Itachi-san, go and be with your family."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama." That was Itachi's last words before he sunk into the floor with a shadow jutsu. Quickly heading to the ANBU complex, Itachi changed into his civilian garb and made sure to quickly work through the few papers still on his desk before heading out. One of his Tenchuu operatives stopped him on the way however.

"What is it Tenzō?" he asked.

"Forgive me for holding you up commander," the man said, "but shall I handle any incoming missions while you're out?" This was that which Itachi appreciated the most in Tenzō, the man was a flawless team-player. Itachi could have told him to take it over mid-battle and Tenzō would do it without any hesitation. Yet, there was no need for that in this case.

"We will be on standby," Itachi told him, "Namikaze Naruto is out on a mission and we shall back him up if needed."

"Roger that sir," Tenzō saluted, Itachi returning the salute and heading out. It was yet early in the day, Sasuke should still be at the academy. Should he perhaps surprise him there? No he decided, it was for the best to keep a low profile still. Instead he took the long way around town, making sure to not be seen by too many. Not that he needed to but old habits were hard to shake. Even more so was the mentality that made him think of what it implied that Namikaze Naruto was out in the field on his own.

The man was a snake; there was no other way of putting it. So much was _convenient_ about the Hokage's son; he _conveniently_ had revealed his master's vile experiments and _conveniently_ gotten the job to kill him himself; _conveniently_ not knowing of the many labs hidden in other nations but only _conveniently_ realizing it now. Was that enough to warrant suspicion? No, but it was a start. Coupled with a service history that was classified or simply not documented thanks to Orochimaru's secrecy in all he did there was a perfect breeding ground for a potential threat. That the man today was easily one of Konoha's five finest shinobi made said proposition one with unpleasant and far-reaching consequences should he really be the traitor-in-the-bud Itachi suspected he might be. Yet all this was just idle talk, coincidences that might be somewhat contrived but nevertheless plausible. What really unnerved Itachi was his eyes.

Cold, serpentine eyes that promised nothing and held everything out of sight, eyes that glowed with ambition. Ambition, that thing which to shinobi were a vice as true as gluttony or wrath. It burned like a bonfire in him, Itachi could tell. He doubted there was anything Namikaze Naruto would not do if it advanced his interests. For now it was the labs and his research but the same had been true for Orochimaru. After a while that interest had gone over to devotion, then to obsession and in the end there had been nothing that couldn't be justified in the name of science to Orochimaru. Naruto was as cold as that man, he spoke with a detached perspective on all things, made everything just part of one great equation in which science stood at the top value-wise. He had no familial attachments to the village thanks to his family giving him to Orochimaru so early on, he had no iron-clad bonds that a team gave, he had nothing but the work he demanded more for constantly. Itachi couldn't trust him, his senses screamed "threat" whenever he thought of Namikaze Naruto and Itachi was not one to disregard those instincts.

Crossing past a small park, Itachi saw something fly past him a few meters away. At first he tensed but realized after a second what it was. He watched passively as a small child came running out of the underbrush, chasing after the cardboard shuriken he had thrown. A pair of other kids came running as well, crying out to each other arguing about something. They were perhaps seven or eight, several years still from graduating. How strange to think that at that age he had been a shinobi for years already. He was grateful that that system had been reformed and twelve made the minimum age for shinobi service, he couldn't ever remembered having played a game like that. Indeed, did he even know how? Starting your service at four years of age destroyed you in many ways. Itachi had realized it more and more in these latest years. In many ways he considered himself a normal man. He loved his family, respected his father, honoured his mother and indeed adored his little brother. Despite all the times his duty came between him and Sasuke Itachi would gladly devote his entire life to his beloved little brother, as he had sworn to himeself twelve years ago when he had held the then infant Sasuke in his arms.

Yet, duty, that one word made it all fall away, left him only with ice and steely focus. Already now he had nearly forgotten how to smile, his face never showed emotions and he needed only the faintest nudge in that direction to have duty claim his mind as well. He was a machine, struggling to maintain his humanity when he never had had a chance to develop it. If it hadn't been the demands of the clan it had been those of the village. Sasuke was one of the few things that could trumph it and Itachi loved his brother so dearly for it, especially as he was halfway a pariah with half his clan these days.

Walking by the river on the ridge there, he thought of that time four years ago. The hostility between his clan and Konoha was at its apex. The clan was poised to perform a coup d'etat and usurp control over Konoha. If it hadn't been for the decisive and forceful leadership of the Yondaime Itachi had little doubt his clan would be dead now. Itachi, loyal to Konoha and remembering all he had seen in the war, had been unable to stomach the thought of a civil war. No more wars, not ever, he couldn't bear the thought of another conflict like that. He had, in the end, revealed it all to the Yondaime, who had done something absurd.

His parents had both been called to the Hokage's office, both of them, and when they had entered Itachi had been there, hiding behind the door. He had placed his sword across his father's throat, pushing his mother against the wall and holding a Kunai towards her throat. The Hokage had calmly sat in his seat watching the whole thing. When he had spoken it had been calmly, even coldly. He had told Fugaku that he would not have the peace of Konoha broken, not even for the Uchiha, and with one command he'd have Itachi slit both their throats and then go down to the Uchiha district to kill the rest of them. Unless, the man had said as Fugaku had stared into his son's eyes with anger and the pain of betrayal glowing in them as fiercely as his mother's shock and horror. Unless the Uchiha were willing to listen to an offer he had for them. His father, faced with either death or paying attention, had had no choice. Alone he might have tried to fight, his pride was great, yet with his wife there he hadn't dared. So Itachi had been called off and his parents had sat down in front of the Hokage who calmly had given them his offer.

His offer had been ROOT, an underground ANBU faction who had been discovered to have their hands in dozens of clandestine and, even worse, unauthorized operations across the nation. The hokage wasn't planning on accepting that anyone went over his head, not the least the ANBU. So therefore he wanted them apprehended like the criminals they were. Other ANBU could have handled it, indeed the Hokage could have hand-picked a force he'd have led into their base. But instead, the Uchiha police could do it. It would be an unparalleled operation, one that would make all of Konoha shake to its foundations. Yet what more, when the Uchiha police were discovered to have dealt with something as massive as traitorous ANBU it would reflect well on them, incredibly much so. Their reputation had always been as tyrannical and unreliable people. But with something like this their reputation would swing over completely. The hokage would have no other option than to reward their loyalty and sacrifices. The rules forcing them to live in a certain district most certainly would have to be abolished now that it had been shown that having an Uchiha policeman in the neighbourhood was the best security insurance one could have. Not even the ANBU were safe from their justice, how could anyone think they were corrupt when they struck that deep? Due rewards and honours would rain over them, the stigma which had made them resent the village getting a deathblow in the process.

ROOT, or death. Minato had asked the question frankly, clasping his hands. His parents had at first been silent, Itachi unable to see their faces which no doubt had been awash with confusion and uncertainty. Yet, in the end Fugaku had relented, accepting Minato's offer and abandoning the clan's planned coup. Two days later they had struck all over Konoha, completely wiping ROOT out as all its operatives fought to the death. And as Minato had said, the Uchiha had become the heroes of Konoha. The Hokage had spun their supposed tyranny into being simply utter devotion to justice, no matter when and where it was needed. The Uchiha had become heroes, the coup had been averted, the clan had lived... and Itachi had become a traitor, a pariah in his clan. Only his mother had forgiven him even after all these years, Sasuke being blissfully ignorant about it all. It was strange that the place he had longed so much to visit would be so cold to him. But what could he do? He loved his family and the village equally.

Sighing, he walked around the last corner, seeing something that made his day a lot better. Sasuke was approaching the district entrance from the other direction and Itachi smiled to himself slightly before vanishing in a blur of motion. As fast as he could, he leaped over the wall and took up position by the entrance, standing there with his arms folded and his back against the wall. When Sasuke entered, it was with a surprising amount of emotion in his movements. Unlike Itachi, Sasuke had never lost the way his body language telegraphed his emotions, making it easy for Itachi to see what was going on. He was frustrated, angry it seemed, and what more he hadn't even noticed Itachi.

Shaking his head to himself, Itachi now leaped forwards, taking Sasuke by the shoulder and now he got a reaction. Sasuke startled, spinning around and kicking backwards with a decent amount of skill and speed he struck at Itachi's head. Itachi dodged under it, using the leg that passed over him to flip Sasuke over and send him back first into the ground. Landing with a grunt, his little brother quickly sat up but stopped when he saw who it was who currently was hunching down in front of him.

"Niisan?" he asked, his eyes wide behind those hilarious thick glasses he wore so the girls would leave him alone. It had been at Itachi's suggestion he wore those, Itachi nevertheless not ever planning on admitting it had been a joke, not when Sasuke had so passionately gone for the idea.

"Not quite good enough yet Sasuke," he said, his face showing none of the happiness he felt at seeing his little brother again.

* * *

><p>"Niisan?" Sasuke asked, not believing his eyes at first. His older brother Itachi was currently hunching down in front of him, looking at him with his eyes as calm and as sharp as always.<p>

"Not quite good enough yet Sasuke," he said calmly. While he was berating him, Sasuke nevertheless was overjoyed by seeing his older brother for the first time in over a year. He stood up quickly, Itachi following suit.

"When did you come back home?" he asked. His brother was always away doing his job as ANBU commander. To see him home like this was as rare as could be.

"Only just now," Itachi said, starting towards the main building and Sasuke quickly fell in beside him. "You still use the glasses," he said now, Sasuke remembering himself and taking them off.

"Yes," he said, a bit awkwardly. He hated those things, they might be just window glass but he never the less got headaches all the time from them. Still, they worked. "They've worked perfectly, I'm not bothered all day any longer." It had been Itachi's idea. When overhearing how he was driven up the walls by the girls in class pestering him all day about dates and whatever Itachi had handed him the glasses without a word, Sasuke understanding first a few days later. With the glasses, some water to ruffle his hair and some slight alterations to his posture and walk Sasuke now could attend his classes without the swarm of pestering fangirls that took a seeming pride in ruining his concentration. And it all was so simple, as expected of ANBU commander Uchiha Itachi.

"That is good to hear," Itachi said, "How is school going?" Sasuke flinched at the question. Ugh... that question normally would have been a source of pride, now it was like prodding an open wound.

"Well..." he begun, "Kinda good I suppose," he eventually finished weakly. Itachi looked at him instantly, his big brother's eyes drilling into him.

""Kinda good"?" he asked and Sasuke felt somewhat queasy.

"Yeah..." He said before taking a deep breath. "I've slipped down to third in the class." It was humiliating! How could he be expected to ever equal his brother if he was outdone not only by Satutobi but also... it was so humiliating!

"Interesting," Itachi said, face totally passive. Uh oh. He was disappointed. Sasuke could tell it. "Second I could have understood, but third? Who is this new contender then?" Ugh, did he have to reveal that? It was humiliating enough to know who it was himself, to have his big brother hear about it was even worse!

"It..." he begun, bracing himself, "it is Namikaze Kimiko." There, it was out, the one who had surpassed him and knocked him down to number three was the hyperactive, overly cheerful, ever grinning bimbo Kimiko! The class clown, the girl who seemed to have a brain consisting of cotton candy and pixie sticks! Now Itachi stopped and Sasuke flinched again. He knew it, his brother was dumbfounded by it. Where had he done wrong? How could she of all people have surpassed him! "It's just in the physical subjects and-and she's climbed to the upper third in chakra control, her average rose above mine, but I still am top in the jutsu practices!" he begun fearfully, turning around to explain himself. Itachi only walked past him, putting one hand on his head.

"Do not underestimate that girl Sasuke," he said calmly, "she has a special gift." Sasuke felt a bit ambivalent there. On one hand it was good Itachi didn't become angry at him, on the other, what was that "gift" all the adults talked about in such hushed whispers when it came to her? It came up all the time, for some reason apparently that little bimbo was supposed to be super-special in some way. Yet the only special he could see about her was the kind of special that never left the mental age of three. Still, Itachi wouldn't lie so he just swallowed his irritation at the whole thing and caught up with him.

"Doesn't matter really," he said, "I'll surpass her and Sarutobi both. It was only recently that he snatched the first place in the kunai throwing and I'm working all day to become better at it. He'll never snatch the first place in ninjutsu and I know how I'm going to surpass him in taijutsu." Sasuke wasn't going to be satisfied with third place. His big brother wasn't going to be it either, nor would his parents. That he even was that far down, however temporarily, was a disgrace, and he'd snatch the first place out from under both Sarutobi and that bimbo Kimiko's noses.

"I do not doubt that you will," Itachi said as they entered the house. Sasuke now felt a sting of worry. For some reason his father and Itachi had been on as bad terms as could be for years now. He knew his father was home too, he wasn't looking forwards to this meeting.

"I'm home!" he cried out as he took off his shoes. Might as well get it over with. It was like eating bitter medicine, just swallow the thing as fast as you could.

"Welcome home Sasuke!" his mother said from the kitchen and Sasuke took a breath in relief. At least his mother still loved Itachi. She'd be overjoyed, "how what school today?" his mother asked and Sasuke decided to surprise her.

"I brought someone home with me today," he said, hearing how his mother quickly came over towards the corridor to say hi. When she entered she froze in her steps at first, wide-eyed she looked at the man now standing beside Sasuke. Itachi bowed to her now.

"Forgive my intrusion," he said formally, hardly having stood up straight again before their mother was upon him.

"Oh I can't believe my eyes!" she said, overjoyed, "It's been so long, why are you saying that? This is still your home. Come in, come in. When did you get leave? You should have told me, I would have made food for you too!" Yep, mother was ecstatic, Sasuke could tell from how she started to babble. Itachi accepted mother's ministrations without any objections and Sasuke smiled. It was great to see mother this happy. She hadn't been like this since last time Itachi was home. They were both ushered into the kitchen and Itachi was seated next to Sasuke, their mother rushing to the stove and starting to work on something. She, at the same time, swiftly set the table for Itachi as well and Sasuke guessed that she was going to try to increase the amount of food she was making mid-cooking so that Itachi could eat as well.

"How long will you be home?" he decided to ask now, noticing how straight Itachi sat, he sat with the legs perfectly folded, back straight and arms folded. Perfect posture, Sasuke guessed he could balance an entire stack of books on Itachi's head.

"I do not know," Itachi answered, "more I cannot reveal." Sasuke shrugged at this. Of course he couldn't. He was in the ANBU after all.

"Have you heard the latest news by the way?" mother said, "apparently Sasuke has gotten a new rival." Ugh, why did mother seem to find that adorable for some reason? Sasuke dreaded what would come now.

"Yes," Itachi said, "Sasuke informed me of Namikaze Kimiko having surpassed him in the ranking average."

"Yes," Mother said and looked back with a smile, "I'm so much reminded of your father and I when we were in the academy." Sasuke let his face fall forwards now and banged his forehead into the table. Oh no...

"Is that so?" Itachi asked, looking towards her.

"Yes!" mother said cheerily, "Right down to a T almost. It wouldn't surprise me if something more than sparks started flying there soon."

"Mother!" Sasuke objected fervently, "She passed me by in the rankings, she's a challenger, just like Sarutobi, where do you get that idea from?" This was unbelievable!

"Still," Mikoto said, her smile angelic, "I can't ever remember that Konohamaru-kun provoked such a massive reaction from you. I barely have to mention her name and you go up in arms. That kind of passion can often turn to another kind sweetie."

"That does make sense," Itachi said now, Sasuke looking at him with horrified eyes.

"What?" he asked, nearly shouting, "You're insane, both of you, and besides, what would I see in that bimbo even if I was interested in girls! She's a hyperactive shrimp of an air-headed dobe!"

"I find those traits quite endearing actually," Mikoto said sweetly, "She's not as dumb as you think. Didn't she outsmart you during a baton run a few weeks ago? Kushina told me that Kimiko had been overjoyed that she managed to outsmart you. That girl might very well already have her eyes on you sweetie." Now Sasuke groaned and hid his face in his hands. This was absurd, he couldn't believe this was happening! A rustle from outside the room made him look up for a second, his stomach turning cold when he saw his father entering the room.

Upon seeing Itachi, Fugaku's face turned ice cold and the mood crashed through the floor and into the basement. Still seated, Itachi bowed towards father respectfully, a gesture not reciprocated in any way.

"Forgive my intrusion," he said once more, Fugaku remaining standing in the doorway.

"A rare sight to see the ANBU commander at my table," he said with a gravelly voice. "I find myself wondering why. Is there so little for the ANBU to do?" Sasuke winced, gritting his teeth and letting the whole thing play out. There was nothing he could do so he just kept his mouth shut and sat there obediently.

"A situation arose that permitted me to take a few days off," Itachi said politely.

"I see," Fugaku said, "You were no doubt eager to escape from your duties."

"It was Hokage-sama's suggestion," Itachi continued, "He insisted that I took the chance to visit my family." Fugaku snorted.

"I have little doubt of that," Sasuke's father was not just cold, but outright hostile, "My memory has not faltered if that is what the man thinks."

"Now dear," Mikoto came to the rescue, speaking with a soothing voice as she came up and put one hand on his arm, "Itachi has not been home for almost a year and he just got here. Don't worry, there will be enough food to go around. It's done in just a minute, take a seat." She seemed almost saintly, her smile the very essence of soothing friendliness. Fugaku eventually sat down by the table and the most awkward dinner in nearly a year officially started. No one said anything, Sasuke not knowing if he even could. The mood was so oppressive that he had a hard time even swallowing properly despite the fact that Itachi was as cool as a cucumber, Fugaku not looking anywhere but straight at his food and Mikoto acting like everything was all right with the world in an attempt to smooth things over. Itachi was soon done with his food and mother was on it in an instant.

"Here Itachi," she said, "have some more." She moved to scoop up some more stew in Itachi's bowl when Fugaku came with another remark.

"I am sure the ANBU commander isn't planning to eat us out of the house," he said snidely. This time however something happened. Mikoto's head snapped to look at him and Sasuke, who had looked at his father, only barely saw the flash of red in his mother's eyes. It was so fast he might as well just have imagined it, but Fugaku froze, a look of shock flashing over his face for a second. Sasuke tensed up as well, being already as tightly wound as the strings of a shamisen. The moment of shock soon vanished and Fukage put down his chop-sticks.

"Thank you for the meal," he said tersely, getting up and leaving the room with a near storm cloud hovering over his head. The mood sunk to a possibly even lower point now and Itachi put down his chop-sticks as well.

"Thank you for the meal," he said as well, "I will visit Teyaki-san for a while." With that, he got up and retreated as well, leaving only Mikoto and Sasuke in the kitchen. Mikoto gave up a slow, shivering sigh now and hid her face in her hands, Sasuke feeling it like his stomach had turned into concrete and his mouth was dry.

"Mother..." he said after a while, "what is all this about?" he couldn't comprehend it, it made no damned sense at all! Mikoto sighed once more, giving Sasuke a sad smile.

"Your father..." she begun, "he is a very proud man. Sometimes... sometimes that pride makes it hard for him to admit he was wrong." Sasuke didn't say anything, he didn't want his mother to have to deal with him being snide as well, but that was little comfort to hear. Pride was one thing, but why had father for over four years now been utterly cold to the son he once had praised without any reservation? He hated this, hated having his father and brother at each others' throats, hated that his mother had to smooth everything over all the time and hated that he seemed to be the only one that didn't have a clue as to what was going on.

* * *

><p>Later that evening, as the sun was beginning to set and the sky was red, Sasuke came in from his evening training, he was heading for the bathroom to take a quick shower before bed. However, passing by one of the hallways he could hear agitated voices and he stopped. Leaning against the wall, he glanced in towards it and could see that it was coming from one of the rooms further in. The voices were his parents, no doubt about it. Sasuke stood there in the darkness for a while, wondering if he should try to sneak closer. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were arguing about what had happened today and eventually he made his call, beginning to move closer. That was when a hand landed on his shoulder, Sasuke looking back with a gasp as his heart leaped up into his throat.<p>

It was Itachi who stood there, having stopped Sasuke from moving closer. His brother, framed by the twilight shining from outside, shook his head and nodded in the other direction, away from the room. For a moment Sasuke was about to tear himself from Itachi's grip but he realized his brother wouldn't yield on this and in the end he followed him to the porch outside the house. Sasuke sat down and let his legs hang off the side with a sigh. Itachi meanwhile leaned against the pillar nearby and for a second they both were silent.

"You're not going to tell me anything more than mom is, are you?" Sasuke asked eventually. "About what is going on that is," he added after a second.

"I don't know what she said," Itachi answered.

"That "dad is proud and can't apologize easily" pretty much," Sasuke told his brother. Itachi was silent for a while.

"I can tell you this Sasuke," his brother said eventually, Sasuke looking up at his big brother now, "something happened four years ago," Itachi begun.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked, suddenly eager to hear what this was.

"We were sworn to silence about it," Itachi said, disappointing him, "It left, however, scars in our family."

"And that's why all this happens," Sasuke said bitterly, "and I still haven't got a clue about anything." Itachi now sat down next to him, looking him straight in the eyes. A small smile now came over his face.

"Do not fret little brother," Itachi told him, "sometimes, it is best to not know some things. You are unaware of this thing and what caused it and that makes you free. That's how you will surpass me one day Sasuke, because you are free, you can live in Hokage-sama's great future one day without carrying with you the shadows of yesterday."

"That really doesn't make a lot of sense niisan," Sasuke said with a sigh.

"I know," Itachi said, "and pray that it never does." With that, he looked back towards the setting sun, not saying anything more. Sasuke shrugged after a while as well. He guessed there was nothing more to be said on this matter and chose to just enjoy the dusk together with his big brother. Despite everything that was it was good to have his big brother here with him. A smile settled on his face as he looked at Itachi.

"Hey," he said, "Tomorrow, do you want to teach me how to throw kunai again? The teachers said I'm the best in the entire school."

"I should have time for that, yes," Itachi nodded. Kunai throwing, yes that had been quite some time since they had done that. Since before the averted coup in fact. Itachi saw how his brother shone up at his yes and Sasuke now held up his hand with the pinky out.

"Is that a promise?" he asked now, Itachi now actually chuckling. Clever boy, he remembered how many "I'm sorry, next time" Itachi had given him back them and eventually he raised his hand as well, the two brothers linking their pinkies.

This was what Itachi lived for, what he would fight for and if needed die for. His little brother's smile, his happiness, his future in this brighter new world Minato-sama would usher in. Someone like Itachi was not fit for that world, he was too broken, too single-minded. He was in many ways a broken soul going on auto-pilot. Yet he could help this new world to come, deal with the less cut-and-dry sides of the struggle. Minato-sama's world would come and Sasuke would get his rightful place in that better place, Itachi had sworn that years ago. If he had to more and more adopt the tactics and mindset of the very group whose destruction had made him ANBU commander to achieve this then so be it. If he had to arrange "accidents" for whomever opposed Minato-sama, so be it. If he one day would have to kill Namikaze Naruto, a man seeking only his own advancement and who mercilessly used his father for it, so be it.


	3. Regrets of the thunder god

Ouroboros: Regrets of the thunder god 

* * *

><p>In the history books there were many kinds of great people. There were the ones who had stumbled into greatness and struggled with adapting to it. There were the ones who were destined for it but never the less faded to the background as their fates were bigger than their personalities. There were the hard-bitten, struggling ones who had earned every bit of success and fame they had. And of course, there were the titans, those combinations of dedication, skill and talent who stood like giants above the world, not just changing but redefining it.<p>

Namikaze Minato would by history be known as one of the last kind and indeed was considered so already. Swivelling around in his chair during a short break from his work, the Yellow Flash of Konoha looked out across the world with his hands clasped. He was in a pensive mood, feeling introspective for some reason. Weird, he was only just past his forties, only barely beginning to slip from his prime. Still, he had seen enough and done enough that it felt like he already now should be a grandfather sitting on the porch and waving a cane at the neighbour's kids. He felt a small smile on his face as he thought about it, a shrunken, squint-eyed old man hobbling around with a walking cane.

"Well I never," he muttered to himself, "In my time I'll have you know we..." somewhere around there he begun to chuckle. That'd be a sight indeed wouldn't it? But no, he had thirty, forty more years to go before that was going to happen, before he could pester the children – might even be the grandchildren – of the current genin with stories of how things had been when he had been young and Hokage. _"yes Namikaze-ojiisan, we know," _they'd say in bored voices daily. Grinning, Minato made the call. Yep, he'd become an insufferable old codger.

Gods he was so bored. Slouching in his chair, he wished something could happen. The curse of being one of those efficient people who had the paperwork done expediently was that at times he was left sitting here, with absolutely nothing do to but to be on station in case something big happened, like that Iwa launched a mass assault on Konoha or that the town was out of ramen. Be it an advancing army or an enraged Kimiko, it'd take him to find a solution to it.

After he had given up a giant yawn that threatened to dislocate his jaw however, he decided to at least go up to the roof. Two hours of sitting here doing nothing was enough. He left a small note for his secretary explaining where he was and headed out of the office. Another yawn came from him as he walked up the stairs to the roof yet when he opened the door he felt the quickening effects of the fresh air and stretched his arms upwards. He needed to get out more, that office was stifling at times.

The hokage of Konoha walked towards the railing and leaned against it as he looked out across the town he was the ruler and protector of. With the revitalizing effects of the air and the view, Minato found himself wide awake and he decided to remain here for a while. It was a fine day, with scarcely a cloud in the sky and with the sun shining brightly. It made his village nearly glow in the light, giving him comfort in the sight.

His village, his home and his responsibility. He had been a Hokage now for fifteen years, years that had been anything but peaceful. Yet, he would not have traded them for anything else in the world. The greater the challenges, the greater the rewards, and looking back at his life, Minato could safely say that the many achievements he had accomplished were one of his dearest treasures.

From those first months and years as Hokage, when the war had still been going on, until today. From that battlefield that one time where he single-handedly had turned the course of battle and won the day to the subtle political games of today. From Kumo to Suna and now this small village his master's old team mate had created, Oto. It had been an epic struggle all of it. Yet was he satisfied? Yes, he was.

He thought back of that one incident, when Kumo under the guise of diplomatic negotiations had tried to kidnap the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, Hinata. A right mess that one had been, the diplomat had used his diplomatic immunity shamelessly and when he had been struck down by Hinata's father he had on purpose made the man kill him. What a fanatic, when realizing he had failed he had died without hesitation to try to salvage it all.

And then... a diplomat struck down during his mission, Kumo had begun to howl for blood and demanded the extradition of the man responsible, everything to get their hands on the Byakugan. Sickening really, that was the kind of world Minato wanted to do away with. Yet the Raikage had been adamant, Hiashi or war. Strange in a way, Minato had met the man during the war, him and his jinchuuriki brother. He had seen good sides in the man, mainly a willingness to put loved ones ahead of some "mission". Many would have called the last part a weakness, Minato didn't however.

Smiling, he thought of how he had stopped the Hyuuga council meeting and told them he would take care of it. Standing tall with his coat on and one of his predecessors' weapons on his back, he had left the village alone, not planning to accept either of Kumo's two options. It sickened him to hear what Kumo demanded, how they used the letter of the law to piss on its spirit. At times people could remember their morals in one moment and forget it in others. The best solution was to knock some sense into their heads at those times. Therefore, he had alone gone to Kumogakure, entered via the main path.

"_Visitors are not allowed," _the Kumo shinobi who had landed in front of him along with three colleagues when Minato had neared Kumo had said. _"Turn around now." _

"_Nope," _Minato had said and knocked them down with one flowing move, rendering them all unconscious before they knew what had hit them. Entering the village proper, he had quickly been spotted, not the least because he had drawn the Raijin no Ken and let the glowing lightning sword illuminate him. He didn't sneak or hide, he was there for them to come and get him if they could. And you couldn't really say they hadn't. Kumo nins had come at him from all around, Minato getting good use for every last bit of the swordsmanship he had learned as he took on the village hidden in the clouds with their own weapons, the lightning bolt and the sword. It had been... well interesting in a way. Many of those he faced were elites, true Kumo jounin, yet he had cut through them all like a knife through butter. He did not suffer one scratch or tear, nor did he kill even one of them, instead only paralysing or immobilizing them all.

The jinchuuriki had been another matter of course. Kumo had had two of them, one he had met before and one he hadn't. Kirabi and Yugito, a jovial and dramatic black man and a stern, focused white woman. What a set of contrasts they had been, yet both of them had control over their beasts, to the level that they both had transformed and thrown themselves at him with roars the shook the mountains. Ten minutes later he had left them unconscious on the ground behind him and kept walking towards the Raikage's tower.

The man had landed in front of him shortly after that, crashing into the ground in a landing more like that of a falling boulder than a landing shinobi. Rising to his full length, the giant of a man had towered above Minato, looking down at him with anger and rage both in his eyes. Somehow, the man seemed even more intimidating than the two bijuu he just had taken down. Almost two meters tall, with his white hair in corn-rows and the bushy moustache as wild as those of the statues of the kami of rage. His forearms had been encased in massive steel bracelets and he had worn nothing besides his coat on the upper body.

"_Hey A," _Minato had said, long since having decided to do away with pleasantries, _"you're an ass-__hole, I'm here to see that rectified." _Not really an epic speech for the history books but it had done the job.

"_Didn't think you had the guts to try something like this," _A had answered, cracking his knuckles, _"glad to see I was wrong." _ Removing his coat, A had flexed his fingers and the very next second the two had clashed. Minato still wasn't quite sure how long the battle had lasted. He knew however that day turned to night and back to day during the course of that titanic clash that eventually left A nailed to a rock with the Raijin through his chest, only barely missing his heart and lungs.

Minato had asked him, if now A's beliefs were the right ones, what reason did Minato have not to lop his head off and call it a day. It had, in the end, been the interference of Kirabi that stopped him. The man had launched himself at Minato from behind, trying to defend his adoptive brother, but all he got for it was the Raijin being torn out of A and shoved into him as well, Minato asking if perhaps he shouldn't kill Kirabi instead. A had roared at him, telling him he's pursue Minato to the end of the world if he killed Kirabi. The speech Minato gave then was one he did think fit the history books.

"_And then my son will avenge me, someone will avenge you and then someone will avenge him and in the end we can all throw ourselves onto a kunai to get it over with! This constant war, this endless and pointless fighting for no other reason than tradition and revenge, must end! Why exactly does it have to be like this, that strength is all that matters and that we have to fight? We can reshape the very landscape, summon tsunamis and twist the very fabric of time itself. Why then, can we not remake the world in that way as well, that we stop all this? Call it weakness if you will but tell me this. Is it really weakness that I do not wipe out your village for what it has done, or is it a new kind of strength? You tell me, in the meantime, here's your brother's life back." _With that, he had pulled out the sword of Kirabi and left.

"Konoha's Golden War God" they had named him after that battle. When he had gotten back to Konoha another diplomat had soon arrived, this one not even mentioning any extradition or anything similar. Instead a deal was made. Total non-aggression between Kumo and Konoha, even to the level that both villages would avoid clashing during missions. What more when needed the villages would do missions jointly, such as in the case of large scale bandit raids and the likes. Yet even more importantly to many was the fact that since that day, once per year, Yugito and Kirabi both came to Konoha and stayed here for the week. The first year hadn't been much of a success, the shameful defeat was still fresh in the mind and both of them had viewed the whole thing as a humiliation.

In the end however, it had been Kimiko who had broken the ice. She had found Kirabi and Yugito "so cool!" and even the stoic jinchuuriki of the two-tails had eventually relented under the bright-eyed little girl's awe at her. As the years had passed and eventually Suna's jinchuuriki of the one-tailed shukaku Gaara had become part of the meetings it had less and less been a humiliating visit to be dreaded and more and more been seen as a familial visit. Minato didn't interfere with it, let instead these poor people bond amongst themselves. He didn't want to turn anyone against their village, instead he wanted them to turn to each other, meaning the jinchuuriki would be effectively prevented from attacking the villages where they had kin. Naïve? Perhaps, but thus far it seemed to work. In a few months they'd come once more, right after Kimiko's graduation. Kimiko loved those visits so much that the days before it she'd be like a small pinball, bouncing around the house for hours on end. His pure-hearted little girl truly was a gift from above. Even Gaara, who had been living under constant threat of assassination by order of his father and who had had his uncle try to kill him at one time had come to relax around the girl. Her warmth had made even him able to relax enough that he could smile around Kimiko and in his own way see her as family. Was there nothing his little girl and the seeming light she carried inside her couldn't soothe?

And yet.. in the other end of the spectrum...

Sighing, Minato found himself pondering that part of his life. There were things he had done as Hokage that he might have regretted the necessity of, yet he had never doubted it. Most of his accomplishments he was proud of. Yet when it came to his firstborn, his only son, Minato felt an almost overpowering regret over his failure. Not his failure as a Hokage, but as a father.

Naruto... he had been an unplanned child. Kushina and him both were young enough that they had decided to put it off a while longer. The shinobi world was teetering on the brink of something big, they both knew it, and had decided to face it before bringing any children into the world. Yet, it seemed as though fate had other ideas. There was something amusing over it, Minato had been cheap when buying contraceptives, ending up with counterfeits that didn't do squat. And lo and behold, you got what you paid for didn't you? Still, there never had been any talk of terminating the pregnancy. They had decided to go along with it. It was still their child, taking the easy way out would have been cowardly.

Thinking back on that day nineteen years ago, Minato remembered it clearly. Kushina's screams of pain, his own horror, the crushing grip she had held his hand in, the fear, uncertainty and adrenaline that had all given way to joy when the midwife had finally held up their first child, their son, their Naruto. He remembered as if it had been yesterday, Kushina's red, tear stained and ragged appearance as she held Naruto, a look of such bliss on her face that Minato had been hard pressed to hold the tears back. His beautiful wife and his wonderful child. He had been happier than words could describe that day and the days after as well.

Yet, it seemed as though his firstborn's life was cursed to start painfully. The Third Shinobi World War had broken out only weeks later, a conflict that would rage on for many years and which would bring Konoha and indeed the entire world to the brink of disaster. Minato had been out in the field for months on end, coming home all too often to a small child that almost had forgotten who he was. He had come home to Naruto's second birthday after having been out in the field for half a year. Naruto had been holding onto Kushina's skirt, hiding his face in it when he said "hi" to his son. How he had regretted that sight and how he had hated himself for being so absent from his child's life. And yet, three days later when he had left, Naruto had been crying at the realization that his father, whom he had warmed up to quickly, would now leave again.

He shouldn't complain. There were others who suffered so much more, yet it had still rent his heart. When he had been appointed Hokage it had been a shamefully large part of him that accepted merely for the sake of being home with his family. And yet, it had seemed as though it would become better. The war slowly went towards victory, ending a few months before Naruto would turn six. At last it had been over, at last he didn't have to spend so much time away from his family... all of Konoha had been ecstatic, the celebration raging on through days. Minato had little doubt that Kimiko had been conceived during those days, it was as if years of dammed up passion and joy had at last been released for them both. He would probably never admit it to anyone, that the reason he had let Naruto go to the festival constantly was because neither he nor Kushina could keep their hands off each other. Heh...

A happy ending, wasn't that it? There was peace at last and Konoha had won. His son would finally have a present father and as it turned out a few weeks later, a sibling was on the way for him. Naruto had been such a nice child, wide-eyed he could spend minutes with one ear against Kushina's stomach, nearly bursting with joy and eagerness whenever he felt something.

Yet. Then the reports had come from the north. In a mountain range in Frost Country it had awoken. After having been gone for centuries, the most terrible of all ancient evils had awoken, hungry for destruction. It had already torn through Hot Springs Country and now had entered Fire country, crushing every village, every city, every forest and mountain range in its wake. The Kyuubi no Kitsune had awoken, the nine-tailed demon fox now rending the world in wild rage and blood thirst. And by all accounts, it was heading for Konoha.

He had tried. The gods above knew he had tried. Elite jonin teams had been dispatched, frantically trying to change the course of this beast, yet it had not relented. Knowing what Minato knew now, he shouldn't have expected it to work. The Kyuubi, for all its savagery, was not stupid. It was hungry for battle, caring not one whit for small teams of shinobi trying to distract it. One swing of its tails caused a tsunami, another caused the mountains to come crumbling down. Konoha, mighty Konoha, was the most powerful of all villages then, standing at the apex of its military power with him as a leader. The Kyuubi hadn't been redirected because it didn't want to be redirected. It wanted to crash into the great walls of Konoha, tear them down and unleash its full fury on the greatest of villages. It couldn't be killed, it couldn't be stopped, it couldn't be reasoned or bargained with. Only one option had remained. Together with Sarutobi Hiruzen-sama, his predecessor, and many of Konoha's sharpest minds, the sannin included, they had devised a plan to stop it.

Like the other villages had done with the other tailed beasts they would with the Kyuubi. They would seal the being away, this monster whose rampages were the stuff of dark legends and eternal nightmares, and Minato had resolved himself to whom the recipient had to be. He and Kushina had been in agreement, the child she carried would be the one to hold the Kyuubi. Of whom else could they ask all this, especially when Kimiko would be born any day now.

The final battle, as they had met the Kyuubi head on with Konoha's full force, had been the stuff of nightmares. He had never been so proud of his subordinates, each of them fighting like a legend, without any fear and at the absolute apex of their skills. Yet it hadn't stopped them from dying by the dozens and even hundreds. The Kyuubi simply had been too powerful, overwhelming them with a fury that could bring about the undoing of entire civilizations. Minato, meanwhile, had been working on preparing the seal on Kimiko, his beloved daughter being only moments old when they begun preparing her to be the host of the demon. Naruto had been sent into hiding and Minato had cursed himself as he carried his child towards the Kyuubi together with the sannin and Sarutobi-sama both. He had been ready to give his life if needed, yet Sarutobi-sama had not let him, instead taking that role himself.

"_You are still young Minato," _the aged former hokage had said, _"and your child will need her father more than ever now. Live, be strong, and let me smile at you from the afterlife." _

With that, Sarutobi Hiruzen-sama had sealed the Kyuubi, dying in the process as he summoned the Shinigami himself. And with that, it was over. The seal had worked perfectly, Kimiko becoming the jinchuuriki of the the nine tailed demon in that moment and Konoha being saved.

It hadn't felt like a victory, not at all. Konoha had been devastated, severely weakened, and like vultures countless other minor villages, clans, bandit gangs and what have you had swarmed over Fire Country, trying to entrench themselves in the nation before a crippled Konoha could deal with them. It had taken months upon months of around the clock work to get rid of them, everything from large battles to manipulating noblemen being put into action. It had been necessary, otherwise Konoha would have withered and died, yet it had left a sour taste in the mouth, those months.

Yet Kimiko. His poor, poor Kimiko. The seal hadn't been perfect, some small issue had been left unresolved due to simple lack of time. The consequences... Kimiko had screamed and thrashed in pain, the infant girl being tormented beyond understanding by the demonic chakra that coruscated through her. Not even Tsunade could do anything about it and Minato admitted to himself that he and Kushina had never come to close to falling out as then. Kushina was left at home, dealing with this, while he travelled the nation non-stop as even the Hokage had to go out into the field. They had been strained to the very edge, Minato remembering how Kushina, red-eyed and with severely frayed nerves, had screamed curses at him in anger for doing this to her baby. What a nightmare it all had been.

And poor Naruto... He had ended up ignored. There was no excuse for Minato that absolved him of the guilt he felt for it. He had only been home for short periods of times, being spared the constant horror of what had happened to his daughter. That should have given him enough distance to see the difference from time to time. It was first months after the Kyuubi attack they had really realized what had happened. Of course, he was in the library, but it had taken them months to realize he never left it. When Kushina actually had gone in there, she had found a reeking, dishevelled Naruto, emaciated even, that desperately tried to understand the book he had found. The poor boy... had he somehow felt that he no longer had a place with his family? That with Kimiko there he was in the way since his parents didn't even spare him a glance. Minato hated himself for it, remembering it keenly how Naruto had looked. Then he had only considered it a little, making a mention of it only instead of seeing what it was.

With time he had understood the incredible that had come to pass in the library. Hardly even seven years old, Naruto had nevertheless manoeuvred himself through the texts and was working himself bloody trying to understand the old book detailing the natures of the tailed beasts. He had thrown himself at it, over and over, and despite being only seven years old to they day when they had realized how far it had gone, he had managed to get halfway through the text. Horror, shame, recrimination, it had all followed their realization that their son had gone so far, desperately trying to be a good boy and not disturb his parents who had so much to do, that he had forced himself to understand things that adults would find difficult.

Orochimaru had been right on time, perfectly so. It should have made them wary really, that the man more or less appeared on their doorstep the instant they both realized what had happened with Naruto. With honeyed words and seemingly genuine concern he had addressed the problem. The Hokage and his wife had been easy pickings, being too desperate and guilt-ridden to abstain from his offer.

"_Naruto-kun is a special child,"_ Orochimaru had said mildly, putting one hand on Minato's shoulder. He had wanted to recoil but he hadn't, desperately wanting to believing in him. _"He wants to comprehend the world around him, this riddle that his life has become. Not merely that "something terrible has happened", but how it happened, what the sources of it are. His baby sister cries in pain, why? Why does the chakra tear through her? What is this seal on her and what are its effects?" _He then had turned to Kushina, giving him a smile that had seemed so gentle and at odds with his normal appearance, "_I understand well that you must feel so guilty about what has happened," _he had said so sweetly and with such understanding, "_yet Naruto-kun has opened this door within him now, this door on the path of a deep, insatiable longing to truly comprehend the world. Closing it will make him miserable. So I beg you, honourable Hokage-sama, allow me to apprentice your child. In him I see myself," _Orochimaru had now seemed almost imploring, his words making them both believe him, "_the child that once tried to comprehend where my parents had gone, the boy that never became content before he delved into the deepest mysteries of this world. Like me, he has come to hunger for understanding of this strange world and it will drive him on, it will be his bonfire in life now. So give him to me, in these dark days where you find yourself simply unable to give him what he needs, let me give him that, give him all he could ask for." _

Minato wondered if it had been physically possible for either of them to say no. Guilt-laden and ashamed, they had felt as if they had betrayed him so deeply that anything they ever did would now taint their child. Putting all the trust they could muster in Orochimaru, they had gone along with his proposal, Naruto leaving his home as he had lived in it these last months, in unnoticed silence.

Clasping his hands together and closing his eyes, Minato bent his head in an almost prayer-like motion. If they only had known, if they only had known what they had condemned their child to! He hadn't said a word about what had happened to him for years, everything they heard from him for the coming years being drenched in Orochimaru's crafty lies and half-truths. Some initial training of his mental fortitude which had turned out to be mental torture aimed at breaking his spirit totally. Some basic genetic modifications that seemed more frightening than they were which had turned out to be a near complete rewrite of his DNA. Some early experience with field work which turned out to be entire campaigns of murders meant to desensitize him to killing.

Naruto had drifted further and further away from them, Minato feeling some unease from early on but putting it down to simple issues with letting his child go. He had trusted Orochimaru, completely, until that day... about half a year ago now. Naruto had become a shinobi worthy of the highest praise, calculating, lethally efficient and incredibly skilled, someone Minato knew that if he had faced him during the world war he'd remember the battle until this day and beyond. He had come up to Minato, nearly completely emotionless as he said that he had reason to suspect Orochimaru was a traitor.

Standard procedure had followed, Naruto had been ordered to procure evidence in secret and had done so, two weeks later handing them over. There had been no other thing to do, Orochimaru had to be dealt with and with the traitor already on the way to flee, death had been the only option, Naruto the only possible executor. He had done it, returning hours later beat up and bloody, yet with Orochimaru dead. Minato had kept himself professional, yet when it all was over he had nearly broken down. The guilt had been overpowering, the realization that he had not only given Naruto away to a psychopath, but also that he had ordered his son to murder this man who, despite all he was guilty of, was the only father Naruto had had for twelve years.

The man that now ran the R&D department was worthy of the post to say the least, someone who could be counted amongst the legends of Konoha. If not now then it would be only soon that Naruto would be counted amongst people like Minato and the sannin, of that Minato had little doubt. Yet he couldn't be proud, not really. Oh he had reason to respect Naruto, yet in every move he did Minato saw his own failures as a father. Not the least... despite having drifted so far from his father, Naruto had slain Orochimaru without any hesitation. It wasn't loyalty to him that had done that, Minato knew that. His son... his son simply was that true to Konoha, even with its Hokage being his absentee father. It hurt somehow even worse than if he had betrayed the village, to see Naruto being so honourable in his own way and knowing that it had nothing to do with him. If anything, it was the absence of him that had made Naruto so true, so loyal.

And now what? Naruto was an adult, he had moved on a long time ago Minato had been told by Kushina. His wife had done what he had been unable to, go see Naruto not as a person of office, but as a parent. Naruto's words had been clear, he felt as if he was trying to be something he wasn't, like they looked for someone who wasn't there. Yet he had offered to try, for their sake, for the betrayers, he would try to build something new. Minato wanted to puke at it. Even with the child they looked for dead thanks to their own neglect and blindness when choosing his sensei this man that now stood in his place was willing to make an effort. Minato couldn't force himself to do that, it was too much. He had murdered his son, so why now did he try to make someone else be that person? Longing so badly that it hurt, Minato nevertheless had found himself unable to go closer. He couldn't, he didn't deserve it.

It felt as if that was all he could do as a father, to cut the bonds when they were choking him. He could respect and honour the head of R&D, see the man's brilliance clearly and acknowledge it, putting it to use for Konoha's sake. But did he deserve a son in Naruto? No, Minato couldn't see that he did. Not when he still couldn't even bring himself to trust Naruto.

There was so much about his son that seemed to be copied from Orochimaru, yet at the same time so much that was different that Minato didn't know what to do. Indeed, for the latest months he had more and more become wary of the boy's assistant. Kabuto, whenever he showed up, seemed to always find a way to shove a glowing hot poker into the open wound his shame was. It was too well placed at times, he didn't buy that it was simply ignorance that did it. Had Naruto a darker side? Was he playing his father for his personal gain? Yes, even now that he had betrayed Naruto Minato found himself suspecting him of manipulating him. Manipulate him it was? Was that really something the man who lay in the hospital right now would have done? The man who, for the same of those poor, scared victims of Orochimaru had risked everything?

Minato felt it all twisting his guts around inside him, uncertainty and fear sitting down around the table where shame and regret already sat. What the hell was he doing? How could he do this to Naruto? But yet, didn't he have an even greater responsibility to the entire village? Were those things even opposite each other? Naruto was a Konoha shinobi! Yet at the same time, so much was unknown about him which in the end did make him a risk. It was so strange... Jiraiya was as mysterious yet Minato trusted him, didn't he? What was it that made him to wary of his son even as he wanted so badly to earn somehow his forgiveness? Minato sighed, deciding in the end that he had to do something. Naruto deserved it.

Pushing himself off the railing he had been leaning on, Minato headed down from the roof and exited the tower via the outer staircase. He walked without a word, only barely remembering to nod at those who saluted or bowed at him as he headed away from the tower and towards Konoha's hospital. Enough with all the uncertainties, the doubts and the hesitations. He couldn't go on like this. Why should he? All he had to do was ask Naruto, plain and simple. Tell him what worried Minato and then act on whatever feedback he got from that. His son was a grown man, a rational shinobi, and he'd understand. If he didn't, who would? Entering the hospital, Minato took the path to Naruto's room in silence.

The door came into view soon, he knew this route now, and Minato steeled himself, knowing he had to do this. Yet still, for all his certainty, all his questions and all his need to know Minato found himself paralysed when standing with his hand only centimetres from the door knob. He couldn't open the door, he just couldn't. Standing there, the Hokage wrestled with himself, trying to force himself to open the door, to do it. But no... he couldn't do it. He couldn't go into that room, he couldn't tell Naruto that he still didn't trust him. He couldn't, just couldn't, bring himself to tell Naruto how much he meant to him, how much he feared that he had made Naruto turn against Konoha, that despite what he had suffered for the village there still were grey areas.

Minato remained standing there, staring at the door for a minute, then two, then five. He tried to be rational. It was better to get it out in the open, it didn't benefit anyone to skulk around like this. Naruto deserved a straight answer. The village needed clarity on this matter. But no, he couldn't. When the time he had stood there begun to approach six minutes Minato vanished. One second there, the other not. Unable to face what awaited inside Namikaze Minato, the most pitiable and pathetic man in the world, fled from his son.


	4. White snow upon the Camellia flower

Ouroboros: White snow upon the Camellia flower

* * *

><p>Jiraiya the toad sage had for decades been known in Konoha as an itinerant ninja, one who popped up here and there. This was usually near hot springs or other such places where he could have his fill of the kind of sights that he preferred. One might want to clarify the kind of sights by pointing out that the man was a massive and equally shameless pervert. Simply put, this man was a voyeur fully in the grips of this creepy sense of entitlement certain men could develop where the seeing women without clothing was some kind of right of theirs, or at least something to be expected since they were men. Evidently these people had no high thoughts of their own gender, ascribing them such low restraint when the matters of the groin were involved.<p>

It was perhaps for the best that the man had chosen his wandering lifestyle. Also if women deplored his voyeurism one could perhaps make an argument that he repaid them at least somewhat via his books. They were known throughout the elemental nations as the Icha-Icha series, a suite of cloyingly romantic and emotional dramas that mixed formulaic but well executed romance plots with a by level of erotica that balanced just on the brink or tastelessness. This had made the books equally popular with the average teenager as with their mothers (if the fathers liked them they kept their mouths shut about it).

Yet this day as the sun stood high in the clear sky Jiraiya the Toad Sage had come home to the village of Konoha, entering it with a person following him. The two guards didn't think too much about it, knowing well the man's habit of picking up strays. Also from this distance it was kinda hard to make out any details of the figure either, parts of it owing to the long hair and the kimono said person wore. Still, there were some things going on in Konoha and it was just as well to address it.

"Uhm, Jiraiya-sama!" one of the guards cried out, the legendary member of the sannin looking towards them.

"What's up?" the man asked loudly, greeting them with one hand.

"I'm sorry but you'll need to head to the hospital."

"What for!" Jiraiya yelled now, "I use protection these days!" the guard slapped a palm over his face and saw in the distance how the figure accompanying him leaned in to whisper something. Jiriya now snapped his fingers, getting a look on his face as if he understood something, "Or was there something else?"

"And he's meant to be one of Konoha's greatest..." the second guard muttered to himself, the first guard chose not to comment and instead responded.

"There's been an epidemic in the town recently!" he yelled, "Everyone that arrives must go to the hospital for inoculations and check-ups!"

"Oho?" Jiraiya said, "Might as well get it over with then don't you think?" he asked his companion who nodded. Jiraiya now grinned and headed off again. "Thanks for the tip lads!" he yelled at the guards, who idly wondered why he didn't just come over, "And yes, I am one of the greatest!" he finished, making the two men startle in surprise.

* * *

><p>"Remind me once more why I am here..." Namikaze Naruto sighed as he walked through the hallway, Senju Tsunade giving him a sour look.<p>

"Because, mister high-and-mighty," she said as the two walked through the corridor filled with people, "we're bloody swamped dealing with this epidemic and you were just faffing about at the labs anyhow."

"Well if you consider developing our very understanding of chakra metal to be faffing about..." Naruto begun and Tsunade cut him off.

"What if I do?" she asked him and Naruto twitched.

"Then you're an idiot," he said frankly as they turned around a corner, Tsunade shrugging.

"Takes one to know one," she said, "Instead of whining, why not just work along with with me and process these cases through quickly. We've got two new visitors to the village, let's check up on them and then we can proceed with the inoculations. You'll be back to the labs before you've got time enough to start getting homesick. Room 355."

"Is it a sport of yours to verbally abuse me?" Naruto asked as he moved to open the door, opening it, he continued to speak. "I'm seriously starting to ponder... oh, it's you." he said now, the last words coming from who sat in the room. Two people indeed, one of them being a young girl, perhaps in her mid teens, slender and with long, black hair and a green kimono. She wore her hair in a half-bun, the rest framing her face which was almost like a porcelain doll, ever so slightly androgynous and classically beautiful, with warm brown eyes. That was not who provoked the reaction however, it was the man sitting beside her, Jiraiya. "I see you have gotten yourself some company Jiraiya-sama." Naruto continued just as Tsunade came around him, seeing the scene inside the room. The woman froze where she stood now, looking with wide eyes between the the burly, tattooed old man with his bushy white hair and the slender young girl.

"Hi there Tsunade-chan!" Jiraiya said, "May I introduce..." he begun but was cut off now.

*CRACK" The slug mistress was holding a clipboard in her hands, was, as in past tense, for she had just snapped it in half with her bare hand. Advancing on Jiraiya as she cracked her fists the woman smiled, however the killing intent that stood around her was not indicating anything positive. Meanwhile, Naruto had quickly gone up to the girl, put up one hand towards her and stopping at a non-threatening distance and moved so he hid Jiraiya from sight.

"Whatever has happened to you, you are safe now," Naruto begun in a calming voice, "if he has done anything to you you don't have to be ashamed of telling us, we're on your side." The young girl blinked in confusion and behind Naruto, Tsunade had grabbed hold of Jiraiya's clothes.

"What exactly is the meaning of this you old creep?" she asked in a sweet voice, still smiling even as the chi pressure around her built. "Who is that person and what have you done?"

"No!" The girl and Jiraiya said at the same time. The girl with a surprised voice and Jiraiya in terror.

"Doctor, Jiraiya-sama has not done anything with me, or to me!" she added after a split-second. "I swear, it's not what you think."

"I swear on the graves of all my ancestors Tsunade-chan!" Jiri squealed, "I haven't laid a hand on Haku-chan, I wouldn't ever do that! You know me, I'm not that kind of man."

"Naruto-san," Tsunade said now, looking towards her temporary co-worker. "Do you think you would be able to handle "Haku-chan" here? I'll personally see to Jiraya's check-up," turning back to the man, she pulled him somewhat closer to glare into his eyes, "very thoroughly." she growled. It will have to be a testament to the sheer terror she caused in Jiraiya that not even this legendary pervert could make any comments on how said statement could be misinterpreted. Dragging the man out of the room, Tsunade slammed the door shut as she headed over to the other free room. Naruto meanwhile, sighed as he was left with the confused girl. Truly stupidity followed Jiraiya like a bad smell.

"Right," he said after a second, "Haku-san, was it?" he asked and the girl bowed her head politely.

"Yes doctor," she said softly, her voice somewhat husky, edging towards the androgynous much like her face yet never the less it accentuated her femininity. Naruto had to admit to himself that Jiraiya had developed a better taste. Usually he was seen in the company of busty women with too much makeup and too little clothes, the kind of easy skanks that seemed to be of the opinion that the greater feminine traits the better.

"Any family name?" he asked now.

"No doctor," the girl answered. This really was a much more elegant little figure. Somewhat androgynous in a way that didn't upset her femininity, soft-spoken, well dressed and with a face that could have been carved in ivory. A true yamato nadeshiko in many ways.

"Very well then," Naruto said, he wondered if some dormant fatherhood instincts had awoken in Jiraya or if he merely he fallen that final bit from grace and become a true deviant. If the latter, he had no doubt Tsunade would want to chemically castrate him. "I am going to perform some basic tests on you. Do not worry, I won't ask you to undress or do anything you might feel uncomfortable with. If you could however roll up your sleeve then we can begin." The girl nodded, obeying gracefully and rolled up her arm to reveal a smooth, ivory-coloured appendage. Beginning to examine her now, he started with checking her blood pressure and moved on to the dozens of other small bits that needed examination. The girl followed his instructions to the letter and Naruto realized that she seemed very used to obey orders. Where exactly was she from?

"Right," he finished after a short while, "Now, I'll just need to take a blood sample from you," he reached for the small syringe they used for this and held it up, the girl looking away quickly.

"Please..." she begun with a slightly quivering voice, "be gentle..." she almost whispered those words and Naruto felt some exasperation. This couldn't be genuine, the girl had to be playing up that angle. If she did, she was talented indeed.

"Do not worry," he said off-handedly, preferring not to make an issue out of it, "A small string and it will be over." The girl nodded, still looking away, and he put the syringe against her skin, pushing it in with an experienced and steady hand. Never the less, the girl gasped breathlessly as he did this, Naruto glancing up at her with a single twitch in his left eye. Really? This was getting absurd, Naruto filled the syringe and pulled it out, putting a small tissue over the spot he had taken the blood from and the girl quickly took it, holding it in place as she looked towards him with a brave little smile. Getting more and more exasperated, Naruto simply emptied the blood into a small petri dish and put it in the machine on the table.

"Now," he said evenly, "In five minutes we will have a brief summary of what we can find in your blood system. Meanwhile, I'll need to ask you some questions."

"Yes?" the girl said and Naruto begun asking her the questions, filling out the questionnaire swiftly and expediently. They were done just as the machine beeped, Naruto spinning around on the chair and catching the small strip of paper ejected from the machine before looking at it. Seemed quite standard, blood type O, no traces of any blood-borne diseases, male in the early stages of puberty of the hormones were anything to go after... wait what?

* * *

><p>"I swear once more!" Jiraiya defended himself, "I wouldn't ever do anything to Haku-chan! I'm not that depraved!"<p>

"Nice try old codger," Tsunade told him angrily, "You think I haven't known you for most of my life? Where did you even find that poor child?"

"In Water Country," Jiraiya begun, "Haku-chan's family was..."

"Water Country!" Tsunade said incredulously, "So what you're basically saying is that you've dragged the poor child all over the elemental nations?" They were interrupted now as Naruto came into the room, holding a small strip of paper in his hand.

"We need to talk," he said to Tsunade, who looked back at Jiraiya just in time to give him a death-glare before she walked up to Naruto.

"What about?" she asked.

"While you've been yelling at Jiraiya I finished the check-up." Naruto said evenly, "I ran her blood through the machine and I found something..."

"Oh gods, she's not pregnant or anything is she?" Tsunade begun and Naruto shook his head. Meanwhile, in the background, Jiraiya looked up now with an offended look on his face.

"Wait a moment!" he begun angrily and spoke in unison with Naruto on what came next, "Haku-chan is..."

"The patient in question is...

"...a boy..." they said together, Tsunade's eyes opening wide and she just stared at Naruto, who held up the strip for her to see for herself. Taking the strip from Naruto, Tsunade stared at the strip for nearly thirty seconds before crumpling it up.

"Jiraiya you _despicable old pervert!"_ she screamed now at the top of her lungs. Spinning around, she had the man in a stranglehold before he could say anything, "Is there no end to your perversions!" she screamed in wild rage, "are you making girly-looking boys into crossdressers now?" her roars echoed through the hospital, provoking the Haku the boy as it seemed come running in from the other room. Naruto meanwhile, came up next to Tsunade and told her something.

"I'm stepping out for today," he revealed, "This is as much stupidity as I can take," with that, he left the room and Haku ran up to Tsunade, throwing himself at her arms.

"Please doctor!" he yelled frantically, "He hasn't forced me to do anything! It's my choice! I wear these clothes because I want to, that's all! He hasn't forced me to do anything!" At least some of his words got through to Tsunade for she eventually let go of the man, letting him collapse coughing to the floor as she turned around and closed the door.

"Right..." she said as she had closed it, "Explanation now, before I toss you over the monument."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later the explanations were done and over with, Haku and Jiraiya both sitting down in front of a Tsunade who was currently looking angrily at Jiraiya.<p>

"So to sum this up," Tsunade said, "You found Haku in Water Country?" Jiraiya nodded, "almost nine years ago," Jiraiya nodded, "and you took him in," Jiraiya nodded, "and for the latest nine years you've been dragging him with you across the world?" Jiraiya nodded. "Now however you want to put him in Konoha," Jiraiya nodded, "that being because you fear you'll have to take much greater risks from now on." Jiraiya nodded and Tsunade sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose with an exasperated look on her face, "Konoha isn't a bloody orphanage you know." she told him.

"Could have fooled me," Jiraiya said now, "Minato could adopt an entire village into Konoha, then he can give Haku-chan a home as well."

"Right, not my call either way," Tsunade said atonally. "You're healthy either way," she reached for the vaccine syringes and gave Jiraiya his vaccine quickly, "there, now you can't catch the bug that's been going around. Did you get any vaccine Haku-san?" she looked towards the boy... gah, she still only saw a beautiful little girl! He shook his head however, Tsunade sighing tiredly. Naruto wasn't really a medic nin true but the whelp could at least bloody finish one check-up before stepping out to cry about how stupid the world was. Sighing, Tsunade saw to that as well. "There, now that's taken care of. Now I'd suggest you get to Minato as soon as possible."

"Got it Tsunade-chan," Jiraiya said, suddenly grinning. "By the way..." he begun and Tsunade cut him off.

"Don't," she warned him, "I've got enough to deal with as it is. Get, out." Jiraiya only chuckled and with that he and Haku both left the room. The old man walked with his usual swagger and Haku walked humbly beside him.

"So there you have it Haku-chan," Jiraiya grinned, "The biggest boobs in the elemental nations! On my old team mate no less."

"I could tell you love her very much," Haku said mildly, the boy long since used to the old man's antics. "And she loves you too Jiraiya-sama," he added, Jiraya now coughing a bit awkwardly.

"Ehm, yes... Hokage's office it is!" he said now, the two of them soon heading there.

* * *

><p>Namikaze Minato was sitting in his office as usual when a knock came on the door. Putting down what he was doing, the man looked up to see, to his surprise, his old sensei enter the room.<p>

"Hey there Minato!" the incorrigible old man said loudly and with his usual grin, "starting to regret becoming Hokage yet?" Minato smiled now, happy to see the man.

"It's been too long Jiraiya," he said warmly, "who's that you got with you by the way?" Minato said as he saw a figure behind Jiraiya. When said figure came out however, Minato got bit of a shock to say the least. Said figure was a young girl, perhaps in her mid-teens, with a beautiful appearance and a green kimono.

"Good day Hokage-sama," the girl said formally, "I am Haku. It is very good to meet you." Minato looked at the young girl for a while, blinking once or twice, then he made a small cough.

"It's... it's good to see that you finally have started settling down sensei," he begun awkwardly, "but is she perhaps not a little too young?" Jiraiya facepalmed now, groaning loudly at the whole thing, while Haku got somewhat red in the face.

"First of all this is a guy!" Jiraiya said, leaning over Haku with one hand on the girl's head, pointing the index finger at her face with the other. Haku flinched somewhat under this, sinking down somewhat in her posture. Minato hesitated for a while, eventually smiling forcedly.

"Okay... if you say so sensei..." he begun, his voice showing how little he believed that A twitch appeared in Jiraiya's eyes now and the man eventually grabbed the Hokage by the clothes and dragged him over the table to be face to face with the Toad Sage .

"Are you doubting me you shitty little brat?" the man growled angrily, Minato calmly looking into his eyes.

"Honestly?" he asked, folding his arms despite being dragged over the desk by his old sensei. He met Jiraiya's furious glare with a calm one of his own and Jiraiya eventually let go of him, looking utterly devastated. Curling up in the corner of the office, the old man sat now with his face against the wall and with a cloud of depression hanging over him.

"Why does everyone insist of thinking that about me..." he muttered sadly, "I'm not that much of a pervert... I'm not..." the misery hung over him, thick as fog.

"Ah, Jiraiya-sama!" Haku said worriedly, coming over to him to pat him on the shoulders, "I'm sure Hokage-sama didn't meant it like that. Please don't be so sad." Haku then turned to look towards Minato quickly. Hokage-sama, I really am a boy!" she... well he, said imploringly, Minato sighing. Suddenly however Haku yelped, finding Jiraya hugging her waist.

"You're the only one that understands me Haku-chan!" the toad sage cried, "what a good boy you are!" he sniffed, Minato blinking repeatedly. This had to be a joke somehow. As Haku took out a napkin and let the still wailing Jiraiya wipe his eyes and blow his nose in it Minato wondered if his old master had regressed into childhood or something.

"Ahem," Jiraiya said, recovering from his little fit and clearing his throat as he stood up in front of the desk once more. "About why I am here," he begun, "I've begun investigating the group you mentioned and while I haven't discovered anything yet I know this: they are deadly, deadlier than nearly anything I've come across before. I might very well risk everything during this investigation and that's fine with me." Now the toad sage put a hand on Haku's shoulder. "But Haku's life is one I have no right to risk."

"You know I'd willingly take those risks for you Jiraiya-sama," Haku said now, conviction in his voice, and Jiraiya sighed.

"I know kid," he ruffled Haku's hair now, making the boy reach up to protect it, "and that only makes it worse," the old man said before he turned back to his former student. "Please, give Haku a home in Konoha," he pleaded, "I've dragged him back and forth across the nations ever since I found him and him getting a home is long overdue."

"I have a home!" Haku claimed, "it's by your side." The level of affection was almost blinding, Minato saw that the boy had long since abandoned any thoughts of living for anyone else but Jiraiya.

"No," Jiraiya said, "I won't yield on this Haku-chan, you need to live for your own sake, I didn't take you in to get a slave, I took you in because I wanted that beautiful little boy I saw that evening to get a better life than that of a street urchin doomed to die in the winter nights. And you won't find that life with me." Leaning in towards Minato, Jiraiya hid his hand and whispered quietly to the Hokage, "besides it's been impossible to get any research done with him following me." Minato chose to not comment on this, yet one thing remained.

"Tell me something Haku-san," the Hokage said, the girl looking at him. It was impossible, this couldn't be a boy, it was just not possible. "Konoha is a shinobi village, I cannot just let anyone settle here, the one who comes to use needs to be able to offer something. Tell me, what are you ready to offer Konoha?" It was mainly a formal question, hanging around Jiraiya for as long as he had meant that the... well, the boy, would be a capably spy at the very least. Yet Haku surprised him now, surprised him very much.

"May I use that cup of coffee Hokage-sama?" he asked, Minat pushing it over to her and proceeding to watch with surprise how the boy put one hand over the cup and then made the coffee rise out of it, shaping itself into a ball that came to hover about ten centimetres over the palm of his hand. Surprise turned to outright shock now however as the ball of coffee shaped itself into a spiky orb that all of a sudden froze. A thorny, sea urchin-like ball of black ice now hovered in the boy's hand. It then exploded yet not violently, rather the pieces all broke off, swarms of black needles filling the air and shaping themselves into a small star.

"The hyoton..." Minato said, amazed at what he saw, "I thought the Yuki clan had died out." Haku put the frozen coffee needles back in the cup now and bowed his head, looking somewhat depressed.

"I am the last survivor..." he said solemnly, "at least that I know of. My father realized that my mother was a bloodline user when I was seven and killed her. He was about to kill me too but my powers shielded me, leaving me an orphan." Minato looked at the boy, feeling a deep sadness over this tragic fate. Truly the bloodline purges were the apex of one of the great tragedies of the elemental nations.

"I shall see what I can do," he said eventually. "Return tomorrow and I'll have an answer for you on how this will happen."

"You won't regret this Minato," Jiraiya said with a smile, Haku bowing deeply to him. The two of them left the office now, Minato looking out across the window. How things had conspired here, it seemed as if they were starting to approach some kind of precedent for what was meant as an one-time thing. Yet, he couldn't imagine the person he had in mind refusing.

* * *

><p>The following day, when Haku and Jiraiya both came into the Hokage's office there were another person in the room. This one was a woman, a tall, regal woman with a green, sleeveless, fur-rimmed coat with a large flower on. Haku instantly felt a sting of hesitation when seeing her. He didn't know who that was or what she would say. At least he could not see any hostility on her face. Bowing to the Hokage, he listened in silence to what he had to say.<p>

"This is Tsubaki Guren," the Hokage said. Haku once again thought that the Hokage must be a very kind man. It stood around him, this aura of gentleness that reminded him very much of Jiraiya-sama. Bowing towards the woman as well, Haku waited to hear what she had to say.

"Haku was it, right?" the woman asked, her voice deep and soft. There was a sting of uncertainty in the young boy now, he didn't know what would happen. "I heard that you wanted to find a home in Konoha," the woman continued, "is that right? "Haku didn't know what to answer there. Jiraiya-sama had told him to stay here and then he would. But he he wished to himself that Jiraiya-sama would let him stay with him. Jiraiya-sama owned his life as far as Haku was concerned. To be separated like this felt like he gave away his purpose in life to find a new one. It didn't make sense to him. Yet, it was what Jiraiya-sama wanted...

"Yes," he said softly, bowing his head towards the woman. Guren didn't say anything for a few seconds, making Haku feel another sting of uncertainty. Perhaps... perhaps she'd say no and Haku could go with Jiraiya-sama again. Yet at her next words those hopes were killed.

"Would you like to stay with my clan?" she asked, Haku not looking up at her. He suddenly felt a burst of grief, realizing that this was it. Jiraiya-sama and him would go separate paths now... his reason to live, his precious person, would vanish.

"Great!" Jiraiya said beside him, "That takes care of that! Don't do anything I wouldn't Haku-chan, good bye!" And with that the toad sage left, exiting the room within seconds and vanishing. Haku ended up spinning around, taking a few steps after him and raising a hand in an attempt to grab him. Too late however, Jiraiya had vanished without a trace.

"Jiraiya-sama!" Haku ended up exclaiming, ending up staring at the door out of which his precious person had left. Blinking in shock, he stared at the brown wood door for a few seconds. What had happened? Could Jiraiya-sama vanish that fast? But... Haku didn't know what to do all of a sudden.

He didn't see it, but behind him Guren and Minato whispered about something, Guren eventually nodding and going up to Haku. She put one hand on the boy's shoulder and he startled, looking back at her with wide eyes.

Guren saw it keenly, loss, a feeling of betrayal and most of all, confusion. To the Tsubaki clan mistress what she saw rent her heart in so many ways. It was Orochimaru and she all over again; a master who commanded utter subservience and even worship from his servant. Yet at the same time, this master understood that bond and sought to sever it. That man, one of Orochimaru's old team mates, put himself through this act as one of the best possible people in Guren's book. He had this loyalty and gave it up willingly. Guren couldn't do anything other than what she did now. She smiled at Haku, as kindly as she could, and said her following words softly.

"Come Haku-chan, let me show you your new home." She looked back to the Hokage now, mouthing the words, _"we take the details later_"to him and getting a quick nod in agreement. With that, she led Haku out of the room, the boy still so shocked that he absently obeyed Guren. Escorting him out of the tower, the leader of the Tsubaki clan kept an eye on Haku, the boy noticing he was looking at her and giving her a smile to show he was okay. He wasn't, Guren could tell that. She had been ready to murder for Orochimaru to take her back, what would Haku be willing to do?

She decided eventually to wait a little with bringing him to the compound. Instead, she led him to a place at the outskirts of Konoha, a long road that went on a ridge above a small river, and sat down on the grassy slope. Patting the grass beside her, she motioned for Haku to sit down. Time for a one-on-one talk it seemed.

Haku didn't know why they stopped but he obeyed. He still was so shocked and when the woman who had offered him a home he still didn't know if he wanted told him to sit down he did. Swallowing, he looked out across Konoha and thought to himself that it did seem like a beautiful village, a place that could be a good home... but his home was with Jiraiya-sama...

"You're very lucky Haku-chan," Guren said and Haku looked up at her. The woman was smiling but there was something sad in her eyes. "I know you probably don't think it, but what Jiraiya just did proves how much he loves you."

"I know I am important to him..." Haku said, feeling the woman's words hit him hard. "But... I just want to stay with him."

"That's why you are so lucky," Guren told him, "he could have let you come with him. But he didn't, because you're not just important to him, he even loves you."

"Yes, he is my precious person," Haku begun, Guren now beginning to chuckle and making Haku stop. "What?" he asked with a puzzled voice.

"I'm sorry," Guren said, hiding her mouth behind her hand. "Haku-chan," she said after a while, having calmed down, "you'll fit perfectly in with the Tsubaki clan you know."

"Uhm... thank you?" Haku said with a perplexed voice.

"You see," Guren told him, "all of us are originally from outside Konoha. We were from all over the place really, only one thing brought us together: Orochimaru."

"Jiraiya-sama's old team mate?" Haku asked and Guren nodded.

"Yes," she said, "and unlike Jiraiya, he had no plans on ever letting us go." Something dark settled in Guren's eyes now and she looked out across the field. "We were manipulated by him, used and discarded when we were no longer needed. We loved him, he had saved us all, but for many of us it only brought us an even more terrible fate at the hands of a wicked madman."

"But he saved you didn't he?" Haku asked.

"Yes," Guren said, "how do you mean?"

"If it wasn't for him," Haku said mildly and without any reproach or contempt in his voice, "you'd already have died a long time ago. He stopped that from happening. In doing so, your lives became his. You lived because of him, that gave him the right to your life. You belonged to him."

"Why?" Guren asked, recognizing the logic all too well. "What gives any man that right? Why does saving a life make that life a thing to be used? You still love, you still cry, you still laugh. Is the life that makes that something lesser for having once been at risk of being lost? Don't be so quick to judge your life without value Haku-chan. If it only exists as a thing to be used, what does that make Jiraiya, who does so much to ensure it can be lived in a good place? A fool, an idiot, an old..."

"Don't talk of him like that!" Haku snapped and cut Guren off. The anger had come quickly at hearing the man who had saved his life being bad-mouthed like this. The Tsubaki clan leader only smiled however.

"You are so lucky that he would say the same about you Haku-chan," she told him, "Orochimaru would have agreed, saying he didn't mind as long as we were useful. I loved Orochimaru much like you love Jiraiya, so much that I at one point condemned a little child to a terrible death in the hope that Orochimaru wouldn't hate me." Haku looked at Guren now, seeing the grief in her eyes. "A child who in many ways was like you if what I've heard is true," the woman told him. "If you live only as a thing for someone... then one day you will wake up. One day you will realize that your hands are running red with blood and that not all the excuses in the world can wash them clean."

"Jiraiya-sama has never asked me to do something like that."

"Exactly," Guren said, "but he could, if you live only for him as you say then he could make you do anything, sully you in whatever way he'd want to, and you couldn't say or do anything about it. I don't know, perhaps I just had a bad sample, but one thing I've learned is to be very, very careful with signing away your right to live for yourself. Look," she added now, pointing towards the river further ahead. Haku looked to see a young man, perhaps a few years older than him, with silver hair and pale skin. He wore an robe-like tunic and black pants and at the moment he was holding a long, bone-white spear in his hands. Walking across the surface of the water, the boy slowly moved his spear as he moved in a semi-circle.

"Who is that?" Haku asked, watching the boy as he moved across the water. He couldn't help but marvel at his grace. It was like watching someone dance, Haku felt like a clumsy ox in comparison. Spinning around with the spear in his hand, the boy carved wide white arcs in the air with it, neither spear nor feet leaving even the least ripple in the water.

"Kimimaro," Guren said as Haku watched the figure leap into the air, spinning sideways and landing with his spear sweeping low, only inches above the water's surface. "Like you, he's the last of his clan. They locked him a way when he was a child, fearing his powers." Kimimaro now leaped backwards through the air and moved his spear as if he was deflecting projectiles fired at him. His spear formed a perfect circle as he spun it. "Orochimaru found Kimimaro and took him in. For years serving Orochimaru was the only thing Kimimaro knew, then however he became sick and Orochimaru had no more use for him." Kimimaro stopped for a moment now, holding the spear in one side as he took a few slow steps forward, grabbing the spear with his other hand as well and moving it over his head. "He could have died there, perhaps he would even have been content with that. But now he's here and we're doing all we can to ensure he'll be cured of his disease. Not because he's a valuable tool, but because he's important to us." Kimimaro now dipped the tip of his spear into the water, slowly moving it around in a circle. After a while he raised it and with the top came the water, it followed his spear and the man wove a spiral of water around himself. The water stayed there around him now; at least until Kimimaro spun the spear around and stuck the tip of his spear into the water whereupon it all fell back into the river again. "That's what I wanted to say Haku-chan," Guren said now, "With the Tsubaki clan we do not live to be someone's tools, we live to be a family. If you had managed to save your mother, would you have been happy if she chose to not even think of her own life after that?" Guren finished as Kimimaro twisted his spear around one last time, coming to a halt with the weapon behind him in one hand.

Haku felt that comment almost like a kick in the guts and was silent after Guren had finished talking. He had never thought of it like that and found himself unable to answer. She was right... he wouldn't have been happy if that had happened. Strangely, that realization flew in the face of what he had been thinking of himself for so long. He had been Jiraiya-sama's weapon and tool, yet if his mother had been that to him he would have been horrified. It didn't make sense...

"But... Jiraiya-sama isn't..." Haku begun, "I wasn't his child... there was no bonds between us like that. Why would he..."

"My guess is that he loves you," Guren said, "and that he wants you to be safe. Blood matters little, you can love someone just as much and perhaps even more even if you are not related. We're not related within my clan, we come from all over the place. But if we have no bonds from before then why not make them? Together we're less lonely. Do you understand?" Guren asked now, Haku having started to feel how tears begun to come from his eyes. He nodded silently, wiping his eyes and Guren asked him now. "Do you want to become a part of the Tsubaki clan?" Haku looked at her now, his ears still having tears in them.

"Yes," he said, not knowing if he could say anything more without starting to cry. Guren looked at him now and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome home Haku-chan," she whispered softly, carefully dragging the boy into an embrace. Haku ended up returning it, silently letting the tears fall as he held onto the woman who had now, without saying it, offered to become his new mother.

After a while, the two left the embrace and Haku pulled back, seeing how Guren smiled at him and he returned it, noticing something in the corner of his eye the next second. Looking down, he noticed how Kimimaro had gotten off the river and now stood right below them on the ridge, looking up. Of his spear there was no trace and he stood still, looking up at Haku with placid, teal-coloured eyes.

"Come and say hi to our new Tsubaki clan member," Guren told him and Kimimaro come up towards him. Haku found himself feeling somewhat awkward, he didn't know what to say really. He didn't have to start anything however, Kimimaro did it for him.

"Kimimaro," he said simply, looking at Haku was a steady gaze. Yet it wasn't intrusive or accusing. It just seemed curious. He no doubt wondered who exactly this figure was that sat beside Guren. Haku therefore smiled and bowed his head.

"I am glad to meet you," he said formally, "My name is Haku."

"Where are you from?" Kimimaro continued, "there is a look about you. I am reminded of Water Country." Haku blinked. Really? How did he see that? Haku wondered what this boy had seen in him, suddenly he wanted to know more about him, about this new family member of his.

"I am from there," Haku said, "I left when my mother was killed. Are you from there as well?"

"Yes," Kimimaro said quietly, "my clan was wiped out in the civil war."

"I'm sorry," Haku said, wondering if that was why he looked so melancholy. There was a sense of sadness about him.

"For what?" Kimimaro asked now, looking a bit confused. Haku found himself a bit flustered now.

"Well," he said, "perhaps this will sound a little strange but... as I understand it we are family now. I don't like the idea of my family members having lost their precious people."

"Haku's a bloodline user, just like us," Guren said now, Kimimaro raising one eyebrow.

"Of what clan?" he asked frankly, Haku looking at Guren.

"My family was called the Yuki clan," he eventually told Kimimaro.

"Curious," the boy said, not having wavered the least in his gaze, "a family of Water Country as reviled as mine. Get down to the water."

"What?" Haku asked now, perplexed both by his demand and his comparison of Haku's family to his.

"You are a Tsubaki now," Kimimaro said, "this village views us all as pitiable charity cases. We have enough of that as it is. Let me see if you can carry your weight, otherwise you have nothing here to do."

"That's not your call Kimimaro!" Guren cut in now, anger in her voice. Haku stopping her however.

"It's okay," he said and gave Guren a smile. This he could understand. Prove yourself, do not be useless, be valuable. It was the same as he had always lived, yet this time it was not for one person's sake, but for an entire family. Haku smiled at Kimimaro as they both got down to the water and stepped out on it.

"You love this clan, don't you?" he asked Kimimaro.

"It is my reason to live," Kimimaro answered and Haku smiled. Yes, it was like Guren said, yet at the same time so he could understand it.

"Thank you," Haku said, "please teach me what that love means." With that, he made his seals and called upon his chakra. Kimimaro nodded and into his hand a short sword slid. Haku realized who he had to be. One of the Kaguya, the most blood-thirsty of all clans. Like him, he was from Water Country. Like him, his family had been feared and hated. Like him, he had found himself here with a new family. Haku slowly let the ice mirrors rise from the water, smiling as he felt the sudden love for this boy, this member of his new family. He realized he was happy. Standing only a few feet from Kimimaro, Haku felt more than ever before a sense of rightness, that he was where he belonged.

Up on the ridge Guren watched with a small chuckle as Kimimaro attacked, Haku retreating by leaping into one of the ice mirrors, actually vanishing into the frozen surface.

"Welcome home Haku-chan," she said. That Kimimaro of all people would take so well to the boy. Something inside her told her this was the start of something beautiful.


	5. First ever halcyon days

Ouroboros: First ever halcyon days

* * *

><p>The newly formed Tsubaki clan had taken up residence in the southern parts of Konoha, now residing in the so called "Camellia district". For the former Oto shinobi this place had become a sanctuary of a kind they had never known before. They were safe, they had kin and they had food, beds and comforts: they had a home. What more, it was a home that had come from seemingly nowhere. The day after the Tsubaki clan had been officially recognized it had stood where there earlier had been but a field and a small river with a waterfall further away. Now, right next to a large residential district, the Camellia district had appeared out of nowhere, a small, walled in district built on both sides of the small river with a bridge connection them. They buildings were all made out of wood, most of them one or two stories high. There were more than enough space for the people of the Tsubaki clan, several building stood empty still, waiting for the day the children of this clan would grow up, form their own families and carry on the legacy these people were building for themselves. Yet, in this home that which had touched them the deepest were the trees planted throughout the district; camellia trees.<p>

Guren was currently sitting on the roof of the house where she lived, one leg dangling off it as she watched the trees. The flowers had been in full bloom despite the season not being right when they had come here. For Tsubaki Guren, who had stood at the head of her still uncertain and afraid clan, the beautiful blossoms had nearly made her want to burst into tears. She had looked back at her people, seen their awestruck faces, and once more promised herself to do all she could to make them happy. And they had come quite the long way hadn't they? Below her in the courtyard Kimimaro was standing, a short bone blade in his hand as he went through a series of his drills. The interesting thing about this however was the fact that several of his now clansmen were standing in front of him, copying his moves with the short staves they were holding.

There was something for everyone she supposed. The Nara clan tended to the deer in the forest, the Yamanaka ran large flower shop, and the Tsubaki? They tried to take their diverse and rag-tag abilities and unify them. Kimimaro's swordplay, the Fuuma shurikenjutsu, the many different sound-based jutsu they had carried with them from Oto and the list went on. It was a grand project which they all dedicated everything to. Even their newest arrival, Haku, did an incredible job. While a boy, he was as feminine and endearing as anyone could be. In fact, at this very moment he had come out, wearing a pink yukata and carrying a tray with a pitcher of water and some mugs for the training group. It was so cute, adorable even. The most adorable part was Kimimaro, who seemed reluctant in accepting the mug of water Haku handed him. Normally he'd have taken it without a second thought yet for some reason Haku made him uncomfortable. Guren grinned to herself, having long since decided to watch this with great anticipation. Now someone leaped up on the roof behind her and Guren looked back. It was Sakon who had landed there, looking as smug as could be.

"Good afternoon most honoured clan leader," he said with a smirk that could have shattered glass with the sheer weight of its smugness.

"You look like the cat that got the mouse," Guren said, wondering what had happened. Sakon hadn't looked that pleased with himself for a long time.

"That's because I did," she got for an answer as the boy sat down next to him. "You see, Ukon and I found a little place in Konoha a while ago, down in Ume district."

"Hmm?" Guren asked now, wondering what he had been up to.

"A bit of an under-the-tables place, quite discreet. They've got quite the width of entertainment, not all of them legal." Guren looked at him now. That boy! Was he seriously running off to shady bars now?

"Let me guess," she said dryly, "and now you've got the clap?" If that really was the case she'd have to kick his ass but she decided to hope. Sakon smirked even more intensively now.

"No," he told her, "Thanks to a little brotherly love we've got wallets filled to the brim." he said, fishing out said wallet and taking out a wad of cash so thick that it had forced him to not close the wallet since it was too thick. Guren blinked at the sight.

"Wait a second..." she begun. "Oh Kami, don't tell me that you used Ukon to cheat."

"Did you know they let you bet other things when you don't have money?" Sakon continued, "I ended up playing with the proprietor of a local establishment. He was down to his last bet and I decided to offer him a little "double or nothing" play. He told me he'd put in VIP-tickets to his establishment for me and my family as his bet." Sakon could hardly keep himself cool, too smug and self-satisfied to be calm. Guren could see this.

"What kind of place?" she asked.

"The hot springs resort!" Sakon said, "I didn't tell him of course that I've got a pretty big family before I've won." Reaching into his clothes again, Sakon took out a giant wad of tickets. Leaping to his feet, he walked out towards the edge of the roof and threw them all into the air, making them rain down on the courtyard below like confetti. "Tickets for everyone!" he yelled as the people below looked up at him, "Grab your bags and pack your towels, we're going to the hot springs!" Guren just sat there, watching the entire thing dumbfounded as Sakon looked back at her and grinned. Down on the ground she could see how Kimimaro caught one of the tickets and looked at it with a quizzical look on his face. In the end all she could say was one word.

"What?"

* * *

><p>This wasn't what she had expected out of a life in Konoha as clan mistress of the Oto survivors, Guren admitted that in a second flat. Standing in front of the giant building that made up the entrance to the large hot springs resort, she looked back at the mass of people behind her. It was a slightly absurd scene somehow, seeing the entire Tsubaki clan with all its mutants and weirdos behind her, all carrying bags with the stuff they'd need for this trip and most of them looking eager. Sakon especially, the guy had taken the chance to buy himself some fancy clothes and a pair of expensive sunglasses, no doubt feeling like the king of the universe right now. She wanted to berate him still, he was a minor and that kind of gambling was not legal. But then again, they were right now going to enjoy an entire resort all to themselves. Was she in any position to complain?<p>

Not really. Screw it; her family could do with having something like this.

"Right everyone!" Guren begun now, addressing the entire clan, "let's remember that we're here to enjoy ourselves. I don't want to see anything getting damaged. VIP-tickets do not mean "wreck the place", do you hear me?" a chorus of different affirmative answers came in response and Guren took the lead now along with Sakon, who carried the tickets like a stack of cards, currently shuffling them like a pro. She needed to get that guy down to earth someday, he really enjoyed being arrogant way too much.

As the horde of Tsubaki clansmen poured in through the door she was met by the owner and his wife both, the former didn't exactly look ecstatic to see them. In fact, the proprietor seemed about to start crying at any second. Still, at least the woman standing beside him had a pleasant smile on her face as she bid them welcome. Thank the gods for that, she could do without threatening someone with bloody murder today.

"Mister owner!" Sakon called out as they entered, "We have arrived! Our tickets," he said smugly, offering them to the man with a flamboyant bow. The man cringed, accepting them only grudgingly. Sakon noticed that and by the gods did he seem to take pleasure in that. "I trust our quarters have been readied?" he continued, the wife taking time to speak up now.

"Most certainly sir," she said sweetly, "would you like some refreshments after your trip sir?"

"That would be wonderful indeed!" Sakon said as he leaned forwards and peeked over the rim of his sunglasses at her, "Are you perhaps..." Okay that did it, Guren could tell what would come now and hand-chopped him in the head.

"No," she said now. On one hand it was kind of hilarious, on the other they didn't need to motivate the woman spitting in their tea or something. Sakon shrunk where he stood now, Guren having knocked the smug out of him for now.

"Ah!" Sakon said and tried to regain his dignity, "where are my manners, allow me to introduce Tsubaki Guren-sama," he bowed once more, this time stepping to the side and indicating her with a flourish, "Jounin of Konoha and head of the Tsubaki clan." Guren stepped forwards now, bowing to the owner and his wife both.

"Thank you for your hard work," she said formally, making sure to be close enough that they could speak a bit lower. She wanted to give them that privacy at least, that not all they said would be heard by her entire clan. "I hope our intrusion is not too much of an inconvenience," she added.

"Oh not at all my lady," the woman said, "I just hope that we will be able to live up to your expectations."

"I have no doubt you will surpass them," Guren said pleasantly. Thank the gods once more she was professional. Guren really didn't want to have to start this with threatening to gut this woman and hang her with her own intestines. "If we could be shown to our rooms I would be very grateful."

"You honour us," the woman said before clapping her hands. "Girls!" she called out and summoned a group of maids into the room, "show our guests here their rooms. Did you have any requests concerning the rooms Tsubaki-sama?" she asked and Guren looked back at the group with pursed lips. The clan had already scattered over the lobby, taking up places in the sofas and chairs, checking through magazines and generally making their best to check out the entire place, already a small hubbub of noise had formed.

"Boys and girls separately," she said after a while, "Other than that I'm not picky."

"I understand." The woman bowed slightly. "You heard her girls!" Guren smiled now and turned around.

"You heard me as well!" she said, Girls and boys separately, try to stay with your age group as well." With directions from her as well as help from the girls the Tsubaki clan was soon lodged at the resort, Guren getting a room to herself. She did feel somewhat sad at that but still, it wasn't that big of a deal. She was used to sleeping alone after all. Still, having unpacked and gotten herself into the yukata that waited for her there she headed down for dinner, hoping this would be a weekend to remember.

* * *

><p>"Oh yeah!" Zaku exclaimed, rolling in the bed laid out for him inside the room. He grinned and stretched almost like a dog or something, Dosu looking at him with an amused chuckle.<p>

"It's a bed you moron,." he said. "We've got them at home too." Felt a bit weird still to use that word, "home", but Dosu guessed it'd feel natural in time. Lot of things felt weird these days really. Being out of that hellhole Oto and getting dropped into Konoha of all places. Having the murderous ice bitch Guren going all "mama" on them. Having his facial scars treated and being able to walk without the bandages was weird too. And that the sound four would have all of a sudden dropped in and give them all tickets to this kind of luxury spa? At times he wondered if he still was lying comatose in that hospital bed back in Oto, waiting for someone to come and kill him. Meh... if it was a dream he didn't mind. Throwing a shoe at the still rolling Zaku, he nearly hit him. "Come on, I'm gonna check out the hot springs."

"Peeer-veeert," Zaku drawled and Dosu threw his second shoe, this time hitting him. "Ow!" Zaku yelled and Dosu snuck out before Zaku could throw anything back at him. There was one thing that remained the same. Zaku was still a moron. Chuckling, he heard how Zaku swore and got to his feet.

"You seen Kagerou anywhere?" Hanzaki asked as Dosu passed him by in the hallway. Dosu furrowed his brow for a second before shaking his head.

"Call me an ass but I'd check if he's made a burrow in the garden or something," he said. Kagerou was weird like that, while Dosu could connect well with most of the former Fuuma people (especially Sasame, yum) Kagerou still made no sense to him. The hunchback was too mysterious. Hanzaki gave him a dry glare now and Dosu shrugged. "Sorry but if he's trying to do that whole family thing he needs to stop being all weird and withdrawn. Don't think I've even spoken to the guy." Hanzaki sighed.

"You're right," he said, "I've been telling Kagerou to come out of that shell and we were supposed to use this opportunity for that."

"Take this!" Zaku yelled behind Dosu now and before Dosu could do anything Hanzaki had already caught something behind Dosu. Spinning around, he saw that it was one of Dosu's shoes Zaku had decided to return through the air. Now however it was fixed in the iron grip of Hanzaki.

"Enough," Hanzaki told Zaku, Dosu making sure to subtly flip him off. "Remember what Guren-sama said," the massive man continued, "we are not razing this place." Zaku seemed like he was about to blow a gasket now, glaring at Dosu who only grinned at him. One of the advantages of having a mouth not covered in bandages was that you could do faces at people.

"You're an ass," Zaku told him when Hanzaki had departed, Dosu only laughing.

"I know," he cackled, "ain't I a stinker?" Zaku only muttered and Dosu felt really pleased with himself. Zaku was always fun to mess with. They weren't done with the meetings however and bumped into Kin just outside the changing rooms. She had changed into a yukata and gotten off her cap. She looked kinda cute actually, for being a scrawny midget at least.

"Hey guys," she said, "were you planning to get into the baths as well?"

"Yeah," Dosu said, "so thank Kami it's separate baths." Kin rolled her eyes at this.

"Aw," she said mockingly, "still a quick-shooter huh? Don't worry; perhaps the medic-nins can give you something for that."

"Pft!" Dosu snorted, "No risk that'd happen with you. I'd get off to Haku before I'd get off to you."

"Fag," Kin said, walking into the female changing room and now it was Zaku's turn to cackle, the guy making a meowing sound and mimicking a cat's paw. Dosu kicked him in the shin before getting into the male changing rooms, listening to his teammate's cursing as he got out of his clothes. Kin really was a total bitch; Dosu guessed that was what he liked about her. A prick, a moron and a bitch: what a team.

* * *

><p>What happened only a few minutes later outside the changing rooms is probably a good testimony to the weirdness of the Tsubaki clan. As Tayuya was walking towards the baths she came across a small group of people standing by the entrances to the changing rooms. It was about eight people and they were arguing about something as far as she could tell. Coming up to the group she soon found out what the whole thing was about and the young girl got this urge to kill someone pretty fast.<p>

"Haku's a boy so he goes with you!" one of the Tsubaki kunoichi exclaimed, shoving the somewhat paralysed Haku over to the group of men standing in front of them. The feminine boy didn't seem to know what to do and the men in the group were as reluctant as the women by the sound of it. For fuck's sake, were these idiots really on about this now of all things?

"No way," the shinobi who shoved him back exclaimed. Tayuya remembered him from Oto. "That's just weird! He's more feminine than you!" Tayuya did give him that despite her growing irritation but come on!

"What did you say?" the woman snarled now, anger evident on her face. She still shoved Haku back to the men however. "He's got a dick, he goes with the guys!"

"Hey gender isn't just about the body you know!" the man retorted, Tayuya blinking as she wondered what he was on at the moment. "It's about who you want to be, the person you are on the inside without social boundaries and... stuff." Okay now he was starting to ramble, Tayuya therefore kicked him in the ass hard enough to send him forward and into the ground. "Hey what the!" the man exclaimed, looking up angrily and into her eyes whereupon he went pale.

"He's got a dick, he goes with the guys," Tayuya told the guy, standing with her hands on her hips, "Problem!" she added with a snarl, the man scurrying to his feet quickly and placing his hands on Haku's shoulders. The guy still didn't have a clue what he was going to and just stood there.

"N-not at all Tayuya-sama!" the guy squealed, "Haku's with us ma'am, no problem whatsoever!" And with that he more or less dashed into the male changing rooms and the small crowd quickly dispersed. Grunting, Tayuya got into the female changing rooms with bit of a scowl on her face. People were so fucking stupid all the time, it made her pissed off.

The changing rooms were half filled with the others and Tayuya got out of her clothes without too much of a fuss. She was eager to see what the hot springs could do. Apparently they had this strange effect on your skin that made you even more beautiful. Tayuya didn't know how it worked but she had decided that she was going go spend the entire bloody trip soaking in there if that was what it took. Grabbing one of the towels from a nearby shelf, she headed towards the sliding door that stood between her and the bathing area. The steams came billowing in the instant she opened and she shut the door behind her as soon as she stepped out.

This was what she wanted to see. A large, open hot spring could be seen in front of her, cut off halfway across with a high bamboo fence that separated the male and female sections. About a dozen women were already in the bath. None of the people she usually talked with though, they were mostly on the male section no doubt. Tayuya got into the water and she took a quick breath when feeling how hot it was. It was almost scalding her but it was still not quite enough warm to be painful. Or, not painful for real. Tayuya had learned that difference a long time ago after all and this was square in almost but not quite territory for her. Walking across the hot spring she spotted a slightly off to the side place where she could sit and thanks to a large boulder beside her she got a place to put her towel on.

Sinking down into the water far enough that it went all the way up to her chest she took a deep breath of contentment. Damn, this felt actually really nice. The hot water her body was submerged in felt fantastic. Tayuya couldn't identify what it was beside the heat but it was great. She probably should give Sakon a "thank you" kick in the crotch or something. That smug prick had for once done something good. Only that was pretty much unheard of but that he'd go this far? She should encourage further behaviour like that.

"Tayuya-oneesama!" a voice brought her out of her reverie and she looked up to see a small, black-haired girl making her way over towards her. She almost groaned at the sight of the girl, Kin, as she made her way towards her. That girl was kind of a pest at times. Kin had apparently decided that Tayuya was her damn idol or something and always followed her around whenever she could. Tayuya didn't like the whole thing. The puppy-eyed adoration Kin had for her made her feel weird. It didn't help that Kin was a genjutsu specialist just like Tayuya, somehow it always came kinda easy to Tayuya to teach Kin a trick or two now and then. It was just because she sucked so badly, Tayuya couldn't stand someone doing to crap genjutsu, that was all there was to it.

"Hmh," Tayuya decided to respond in the end, giving her a neutral look as she came and sat down near her. "you okay?" she asked after a second, internally flinching. Why the flying fuck was she asking things like that? Shouldn't she just shut her fucking mouth and simply endure the little twerp? Kin smiled a bit at her, looking so damn cute that Tayuya wanted to slap her over the head and tell her to stop pretending.

"Yeah, Dosu's a dick as always though," she said. Ugh yeah... her two teammates. Tayuya had little patience with Kin's two dumbass teammates. Zaku was a little cocky idiot and Dosu a simple asshole. Not that Kin was much better either, that's not what she meant.

"So what did he do this time?" Tayuya asked and Kin rolled her eyes.

"He said he'd rather get off to Haku than me," she told Tayuya, whose eyes narrowed at this, "I called him a fag and went into the dressing room." Tayuya couldn't help but burst out laughing at this. Clever girl! That'd show that little prick his place. The laughter caused her to twitch a little however and it was cut short as she realized what she was thinking. Was there something in the water? That feeling of warmth in her stomach did not come from her being proud over what Kin had said!

"There was this big-ass ruckus outside the changing rooms when I got there actually," she said now, deciding to change to subject a bit. "People were arguing about whether Haku should bathe with the guys or girls."

"Really?" Kin asked, laughing a bit and Tayuya decided to get out. She was beginning to feel a bit giddy as well when seeing Kin smile. There was something in the air probably.

"Yeah," she said, "dumbest fucking thing I've seen. I kicked their asses and told them he goes with the guys."

"That's a shame," Kin said and Tayuya looked at her as if she had grown an extra head.

"What?" she asked, "He's a fucking guy, he doesn't have anything here to do."

"Oh come on Tayuya-oneesama," Kin said with a bit of a grin, "he is like a porcelain doll! Can't you imagine all the things we could try with him? I've wanted to touch his hair since I first saw him." Tayuya felt a bit queasy now and didn't say anything. She had actually begun to feel somewhat cold inside and decided that the discussion was over now. Besides what was that fucking noise on the other side of the wall?

Seriously, it sounded like someone was trying to drown a herd of gorillas! People were shouting and she could hear a lot of water splashing as well. Looking towards the top of the fence, Tayuya felt the irritation come to her quickly and after a while she stood up and yelled.

"Hey shut your fucking holes!" she yelled as the ruckus only mounted and she didn't get any answer which only further enraged her. The fuck were they doing?

The answer came a few moments later when the bamboo wall actually broke. Someone had been thrown against it hard enough for it to break. The bamboo poles making up the fence came crashing down into the water and missed Tayuya with only a few feet. She threw up her hands to shield herself and something knocked her backwards, making her hit the rock behind her and dazed her for a second. She managed to get back to reality quickly however when she saw what had happened. Kin's teammate, Zaku, was the one who had been thrown through the fence and the guy was currently leaning into her, one of his hands having landed square on her breast and he looked up now with his eyes unfocused.

"You..." Tayuya stared down at the boy for one second and in the next she acted. "Die!" she roared, raising her fist and with one mighty swing of it she sent him flying through the air. Her fist hit him straight in the face, sending him spinning through the air and back over the wall to the male side of the baths. A loud splash could be heard from the other side as Zaku landed and Tayuya stalked off, grabbing her towel and heading for the exit. She had lost any and all interest in the baths, ignoring Kin's outcry behind her as she got out of the water and walked across the stone floor towards the door. What little good mood she had felt had been thrown out of the window now. Yet despite that, weirdly enough through the fright and the anger she felt a sense of triumph. Only months ago she would have struck to kill. That Tayuya would have killed Zaku with one blow. She hadn't however, she had managed to restrain herself, control the anger that drove her. For Tayuya there was no greater victory to be had even if she right now felt trembling and furious. Shit!

As Tayuya stood by the shelf where her clothes were she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to think. She had already swore she'd become more than the sobbing, terrified child who silently endured her father's greasy hands on her, More than the black anger that had driven her to murder him in his sleep and had driven her for years afterwards. Shaking, Tayuya forced herself to breathe, to calm down. The anger was there, pounding inside her and howling for blood.

"_Forget it, bitch," _she told it, refusing to succumb to it. She was going to become better than that. She was gonna get past it, laugh in its face and defy it. Nothing was gonna control her; she was the one in charge of her fucking life!

"Well done," someone said and Tayuya looked up, seeing Guren stand by the doorway. The woman was standing with her arms folded and a smile on her face. Tayuya snorted but Guren kept going. "I honestly didn't think you'd be that restrained. I'm proud of you." Those last three words made Tayuya swallow.

"Well that's some fucking high standards you've got there," she said.

"I have," Guren said, "and you just managed to do something amazing."

"Yeah whatever," Tayuya said, grabbing her clothes from the shelf they lay on, "little fuck ruined the day for me."

"Only if you let it," Guren told her, "they've got ping-pong tables here. Get into a bathrobe and we'll play a pair of games.

"I ain't playing fucking ping..." Tayuya began, being interrupted when she saw Guren's face.

"That wasn't a suggestion Tayuya," the clan leader said mildly, her presence telling Guren what would happen if she said no. With the anger shoved down into her toes, Tayuya found herself standing up straight and retrieving the bathrobe in a second straight.

"Yes ma'am," she croaked, silently following Guren out of the dressing room. Fucking hell... Guren could be a scary bitch when she wanted to.

* * *

><p>The ping pong table turned however out to be taken. Haku and Kimimaro were playing at the moment and Tayuya had to blink a few times, rubbing her eyes at the sight. She had played ping-pong once or twice before but she couldn't remember it looking anything like this. The two young boys were at the moment either dancing or playing, she couldn't really tell which of these things they were doing more but it looked like some kind of performance.<p>

Kimimaro swung his arms in a wide and lightning fast arc, striking the ball perfectly and sending it flying across the board, Haku almost floating to the other end of his end of the table to intercept it with a move as graceful as the flight of a swallow. He returned it, letting his strike be short and swift, aiming for the other end of Kimimaro's table yet the Kaguya intercepted it, his steps swift and sharp as he seemed to blur into existence in front of the ball and as he struck the ball it was with the same sharpness that Tayuya knew his swords struck with. The impact rung out across the room as the ball flew back to Haku, whose ethereally graceful counter sent it towards Kimimaro's other corner again, the ball curving itself through the air in a semi-circle. Kimimaro's eyes narrowed and he brought the paddle close to him, moving straight into the ball's path. When he struck it was with a blow that saw his entire body rotate and his arm flew out to the side. The ball, meanwhile, shot like a kunai through the air and Haku didn't manage to reach it before it flew past the table right after the net, only barely brushing the very edge of it and giving Kimimaro the point.

"Fucking hell..." Tayuya found herself saying lowly. She noticed first now that Kidoumaru was standing by the wall as well, his arms all folded as he watched it with a pair of other Tsubaki men flanking him.

"Pretty much yeah," Kidoumaru said, "Kinda makes you not want to play. I feel like I'd just end up looking like a flailing monkey compared to those two."

"Wanna go get a banana split?" one of the Tsubaki men asked absently, scratching his neck. Kidoumaru looked up at him with a dry look at the man shrugged. "I like banana splits," he said in his defence. Tayuya however found herself given pause. Hell that wasn't a half bad idea actually.

"I'm in," she said and Kidoumaru chuckled at this.

"Yeah cool," leaning in towards Tayuya, he whispered the next words to her. "Besides it's a bit too lovey-dovey in here don't you think?" Tayuya glanced at Haku and Kimimaro now, her brow furrowing before she looked back to Kidoumaru, who shrugged again.

"You think...?" she began, Kidoumaru nodding for her to follow him out into the hallway. The small group headed out of the room now and Kidoumaru made sure the door was closed before he spoke up

"Well I dunno," she said, "don't you think Kimimaro's been pretty damn friendly with Haku right right from the start?"

"Great reasoning asswipe," Tayuya drawled, "they're both from Water Country, you don't think that's a slightly more sensible explanation than Kimimaro suddenly lusting for cock?"

"Haku's from Water Country too?" Kidoumaru looked surprised now. "didn't know that."

"Yeah, he's apparently last of some "Yuki clan" who apparently was as hated as the Kaguya in Water Country," Tayuya said as they begun down the hallway, "Far as I've gotten it Haku's pretty much Kimimaro only with girly clothes and a faggy attitude."

"So what do I get for not telling Kimimaro you said that?" Kidoumaru grinned and Tayuya narrowed her eyes somewhat.

"Balls that aren't torn off, is that good enough for you?" She told him as they vanished down the hallway, heading towards the kitchen to see what they could find there.

* * *

><p>Many hours later, as the sun had started to set on the horizon and the world had been wrapped in a yellow glow two figures sat on the roof of the hot springs resort, looking out across the world below them. The day had been long to say the least. Zaku getting beaten up after having accidentally launched himself into the female sections of the bath. Ping-pong games and then a sudden banana split buffet that came out of nowhere. One of their clan members revealing that the hunchbacked male they had known in truth was merely a shell hiding instead a pale, slender woman and thus on it had gone. They both felt a need to process the day and therefore they now sat on the roof to watch the world around them.<p>

Haku sat beside Kimimaro and looked out across the landscape, feeling a sense of happiness at the beauty visible to him. It had always made him happy to see beauty in the world; it made it feel like a better place somehow. Looking at Kimimaro, he saw how thoughtful he looked and after a while he spoke up, wondering what his family member was thinking.

"A lot happened today," he begun and Kimimaro nodded.

"It did," he said. For a minute now he fell silent, Haku having learned enough about him to tell that he was thinking of what to say next. Therefore he simply waited until Kimimaro spoke up again. "It was pointless, but it made me happy." Haku smiled to himself now.

"Precious people have a way to make pointless things important," he said, "Jiraiya-sama once said that good company can make anything worthwhile."

"Did he?" Kimimaro asked and looked at Haku.

"Yes," Haku said, "Of course... he was trying to convince me to peep with him at the time," he giggled. "But I still think he was right."

"It's good that you were there then," Kimimaro said, Haku startling a bit.

"We were all here as a family," he said, telling himself that's what Kimimaro meant. As much as he loved him Haku also knew Kimimaro was bad with words, often saying things that could be misinterpreted.

"Yes..." Kimimaro said. "You asked me once who my precious person was," he said after another minute. Haku nodded, remembering that. Kimimaro had thought for a while, eventually answering "Naruto-sama".

"I remember," Haku said softly. What did his friend want? It made him curious.

"I've become uncertain if I was right." Kimimaro answered after a while. "It has gnawed in me for a long time. What if Naruto-sama isn't my only reason for living? He told me once he'd rather see me find my own reason to live. I don't know how to, but I think I might have. And I'm uncertain of what that might mean."

"Really?" Haku asked, smiling a bit. "I think Naruto-sama would be happy to hear it. Who is it?"

"You," Kimimaro said plainly, Haku suddenly unable to breathe. The surprise left him blinking, looking at Kimimaro as the pale young man turned to look at him as well. "You said there are many ways for someone to be precious. That I shouldn't be afraid of following my heart. I am still afraid, but I feel like I have to follow my desires now, otherwise I'll fall apart." With that Kimimaro slowly leaned in towards him, his hand reaching up to place itself against Haku's chin and gently pull him closer.

Haku felt the blood rush through him, how his heart begun to pound like a drum. Emotions flooded him and he didn't know what to do at first. When he could speak up Kimimaro was only a foot or so from him.

"I..." he began, "I am a boy, you know that right?" he asked confusedly. Uncertainty and confusion made him ask this, not daring to think of anything else. Kimimaro stopped now for a while, looking into his eyes with that deep, contemplative gaze of his. It had to be a misunderstanding of some sort, Haku could tell. Some sort of misunderstanding coming from his preference for girls' clothing.

"Is..." Kimimaro said after a while, "is that a problem?" he eventually asked, Haku's heart felling like it burst at this. The explosion inside him spread outwards and soon reached his eyes where eventually tears came to be pushed forth. Taking a slow, shivering breath, Haku shook his head.

"I don't want it to be," he said tearfully, Kimimaro reaching up to his face now and gently wiping away the tears with his other hand. Carefully, as if he was afraid he'd break, Kimimaro pulled Haku in to kiss him on the lips. Not much, not deeply. It was at most a peck, a slow, uncertain meeting of their lips that ended after a short while. Yet to Haku it made his world rumble under his feet. The emotions that flooded through him left him shivering. When Kimimaro pulled away from him Haku saw in his eyes, for the first time, naked emotion. He saw longing, loneliness, desire and love, all of it aimed at him. For Haku, who had lived his life for someone else, it was an overwhelming sight to see and in the end he couldn't take it. Unwilling to run and unable to keep looking into Kimimaro's eyes he fled forwards, wrapping his arms around Kimimaro and burying his face into his chest. Kimimaro returned the embrace now, pulling him closer to hold him in his arms. With one hand slowly running through Haku's hair, he whispered what he said now.

"I..." he begun, "I was afraid you would flee from me... thank you... I... thank you."

Haku felt the tears running down his cheeks by the time Kimimaro was done. Unable to answer, he simply held onto Kimimaro. He was happy beyond words in this moment. A longing he hadn't even understood in himself had been fulfilled. It left him happy that Jiraiya-sama had left him in Konoha, happy that Guren-sama had taken him in, happy that he had met Kimimaro. For Haku in this moment everything was all right in the world.

The same could be said for the woman who had listened in on them. Guren was at the moment sitting behind a chimney a few metres away. It might be wrong of her to intrude like this yet the Tsubaki clan mistress couldn't find it in herself to be concerned about that. At the moment she smiled widely. Looking up at the sky where she could see the first stars she felt a sense of hope. Her weird clan of mutants, fugitives and orphans. There was hope for them. They could find a good life in this world yet. How their flames would burn and in what colour she couldn't know. But it would burn and it would do so brightly. Her clan, her family. It would become happy and was being so in this very moment. It was more than enough for her and Guren resolved herself to bring them countless more days like this.

* * *

><p>AN: Aaaand cue massive speculation about my gender XD


	6. A day in Konoha

Ouroboros: A day in Konoha 

* * *

><p>Giving the padded pole one final violent snap kick, Sarutobi Konohamaru snarled as he stopped his furious training session, stumbling backwards as he panted, wiping the sweat from his face with the sleeve of his green jacket. Two hundred kicks... that had to do. The grandson of the third Hokage stood up straight, groaning as he stretched his back and wiped his mouth on the long scarf he wore. He still wasn't good enough, not by far. There was an abyss between him and where he needed to be.<p>

"Good!" Ebisu-sensei said behind him, the man pushing his sunglasses up his face, "With that, we are done for today honourable grandson."

"Yeah..." Konohamaru muttered, once again being reminded why he hated this guy. "Hey Ebisu-sensei, a question for you." He said now, the man looking towards him. "You're meant to be the best trainer in Konoha, right?"

"That's right honourable grandson," the man said, standing a little taller at this.

"How come then that right now I'm only number three when I used to be at least second place?" he asked bitterly. If there was one thing that rankled him these days it was the fact that he had been pushed down from the first place he had held for nearly a month in his class first to second by the Uchiha, but then to third by the Namikaze bitch! Sasuke he had no issues with, he respected the Uchiha, but Kimiko made him want to vomit in disgust. She was a stupid little shit, someone he had long since dismissed as pathetic, and now she had gone past him in the rankings? "You've lost your edge or something?" he asked Ebisu, "I've been thinking of whether I should ask for someone else to aid me." If Ebisu couldn't help him even keep first place then that prick was useless to him. Konohamaru wasn't going to let that _bitch _outdo him.

"Honourable grandson!" Ebisu exclaimed, shocked by what he was saying. Good, might mean that the asshole took this seriously, "It might be a poor teacher that blames the student," the man retorted now, "but I'd look closer to myself for the reason if I were you." Konohamaru felt that almost as a red-hot knife was jammed in his neck and he looked at Ebisu, enraged.

"What?" he asked with a hiss, seeing how Ebisu only stood there with folded arms, looking utterly unflappable.

"I'm not a magician, nor am I a god," Ebisu said coolly, "I offer you the tools and the shortest route, yet it's you who will put these tools into practise. If you slip in the rankings, perhaps it should be more prudent to blame yourself?"

"You arrogant beanpole," Konohamaru begun.

"I am not done yet honourable grandson," Ebisu cut him off, "If you want to climb that ranking, then perhaps you should kick harder next time? Run faster than you have, make your seals quicker, hit better with your shuriken and memorize the shinobi rules better. If your considerable natural talent and my expertise does not grant you an easy victory against firstly the honourable daughter of Hokage-sama and secondly the son of the Uchiha clan as well as the little brother of commander Uchiha Itachi, don't instantly blame the one factor you can't control, it makes you look like an arrogant whelp."

There it snapped for Konohamaru. Roaring, he kicked at Ebisu with the full intent of hurting him. All he got for it however was Ebisu catching his leg and pulling it upwards, making Konohamaru spin around in the air and land on the ground with a loud thud. Grunting, the young boy felt Ebisu's fist land against his chest. Not a punch, he just put it there to show what he could have done.

"Do not prove me right so quickly!" Ebisu snapped at him, Konohamaru feeling his glare behind the sunglasses. Getting to his feet, Ebisu looked down at him with what Konohamaru could feel was pity. "Training is done for today," the man said, pushing his glassed up with his middle and index finger, "I shall see you after school tomorrow honourable grandson. I suggest you correct that attitude of yours until then." With that, the guy vanished in a blur of motion and Konohamaru got off the ground with the anger seething in him. It boiled over and he screamed, giving the pole as heavy a kick as he could. It didn't help, he still felt the anger inside him and kicked again, this time even harder.

That was not a good idea it turned out, he ended up stumbling and ended up putting down his foot wrong, a blinding pain shooting through it as he fell down with an exclamation of pain. Landing on his back, Konohamaru cured and clutched the leg. Damn it! Damn it all to hell! Don't tell him he had sprained his ankle now of all things as well!

Lying there, Konohamaru stared up at the clouds above as he lay still waiting for the pain to pass. There wasn't much to do other than to lie there and breathe slowly. The pain had chased away most of the rage for now and he could think somewhat more clearly. Didn't stop him from being bitter however. Yeah, Sasuke had Itachi for a big brother and the entire fucking Uchiha clan around him. That red-haired bitch had the head of R&D Naruto as a brother as well as the fucking Hokage for a dad.

Fuck them all, fuck the nerd and fuck the little bitch both. They had only come this far because of their families to begin with. All he had was that hack Ebisu, the Hokage seeing him as a fucking charity-case and foisting that four-eyed dick onto him! Slowly sitting up and trying to get to his feet somehow, Konohamaru thought about the shit hand fate had dealt him once again. He swore as he turned on the ground to grab hold of the pole and use it as support.

Konohamaru, named by taking the name of the village and sticking -maru at the end. Hadn't his grandfather been a right fucking comedian? As if the rest hadn't been enough he didn't even have a name that was his rather than a symbol for something. And of course, the fucking old man had only just given him the name before going off and dying like a martyr when sealing the Kyuubi no Kitsune away. Yeah, fun. Great heroism and shinobi honours all fucking around. Of course, it left Konohamaru orphaned and literally NOTHING but "the honourable grandson" to everyone.

Fuck his grandfather for leaving him in this seat. Whoever the old man Konohamaru hadn't even known had been he evidently had a shit sense of humour. Thanks to his actions and his choice of names Konohamaru was now nothing, absolutely nothing, but the grandson of someone. He could count the people who actually called him by his name on his two hands, one hand enough for the people he didn't hate either way.

Having gotten to his feet and sitting down on a log now, Konohamaru examined his ankle, swearing to himself when realizing that yeah, it was sprained. Shit! He thankfully carried a first aid kit so he could start taking care of it, making sure to wrap himself up enough that he could get to the hospital and get this fixed. He didn't have time to sit around with stuff like this so he got up and begun to make his way towards the hospital. The trek became slow but he could at least move.

As said, fuck his grandfather and fuck everyone who called him by that hateful nickname. Konohamaru would show them all. He'd get to first place in the end and when he became a shinobi he'd become an even better one than his grandfather. He'd become a legend on the level of the Yellow Flash and when he was that big he'd go and take a piss on the old goat's grave. Cause fuck him, he had evidently not given a shit about what he did to Konohamaru so Konohamaru wasn't going to give a shit about what people expected out of an "honourable grandson". For all intents and purposes he started at rock bottom, any advantages given to him by Ebisu were countered by this cloying, despicable fact that thus far everyone was looking at him but not one of them saw him. That feeling, that all eyes were on him yet not one of those saw him, made him want to puke. Either that or the pain, Konohamaru realized he was cold sweating as he neared the hospital. God damn it it hurt! Well that's life for you, pain made you stronger in the end.

Fuck every last one of them. He'd show them all and neither that four-eyed Uchiha nerd or the stupid little Namikaze shit would stand in his way. Getting to the hospital, Konohamaru wiped the sweat from his brow and walked into it.

* * *

><p>At that same time Kabuto exited the the Hokage's office after having delivered his report. He looked to the waiting room where Karin was sitting, idly looking through one of the magazines there. When she noticed him she put the magazine away and got up, evidently a bit irritated.<p>

"So nice of you to drop by," she said, Kabuto only giving her a diplomatic smile. Yes, she was angry. Only one of them had been allowed inside and it was easy to tell Karin had taken offence at not being allowed to report on the recent discoveries which were as much hers as Kabuto's. But then again it was done now so there wasn't really much Kabuto could do. The two of them headed out of the tower, taking the external stairs down to ground level. "So how did it go?" Karin asked after a second, Kabuto smiling once more. He did that a lot after these sessions.

"Well enough," he said. "I hinted at that Naruto-sensei's passion and dedication only had increased recently due to the fact that he was left alone. That Hokage-sama was a plague in Naruto-sensei's life." Karin blinked at Kabuto's casual description and in the end she shook her head.

"You are evil," she concluded, Kabuto giving her a wide smile.

"It's the small pleasures in life that makes it worth it."

"Hmh," Karin said eventually. "You know," she added after a moment, "I don't get how you do it. I try to figure Naruto-sama out every day but I just don't get him. What's your trick, how do you figure him out?" Kabuto looked at Karin with some surprise on her face. When he thought about it, it was true. She had only worked under Naruto for about a month. Kabuto remembered how much of a riddle Naruto had been to him during their first months. Add to that Karin's somewhat sycophantic attitude and Kabuto could see where Karin might feel like she was doing everything wrong. It wasn't his business really though, or was it? Kabuto was about to say no but got an image of Naruto-sensei flashing by in his head, a disapproving look on his face and a dry question about why he wasn't working to ensure maximum cohesion in the laboratory staff on his lips. Flinching a bit, Kabuto decided to help her out.

"That... is a good question Karin-san," he begun, "Would you care for some tea or some such while we talk about it?" Kabuto found himself begging that she wouldn't think of this as a date. That would be too stupid. The idea of him dating Karin... Kabuto shuddered.

"Why not?" Karin answered simply and Kabuto found himself giving up a tiny breath of relief. Not that Karin was ugly or stupid per se, just... just no. Fortunately they were just now passing by a small tea shop, one not too crowded too. Consisting of pretty much a small back yard that had been tidied up with a few benches and an open window where the owner stood. It'd have to do. Turning in there, they both headed up to the register to get themselves some tea. When they had gotten said tea however, an unexpected, if pleasant, surprise came. The owner, a large, jovial man with a huge moustache, waved their attempts at paying away.

"No need for that you two," he told them. "I recognize you, you're with the science people, right?"

"Uhm, yes," Karin answered and the man grinned.

"Then consider this my thanks for your hard work. My brother is a shinobi and was at Hizuri pass when they ambushed those crazy blood nin bastards. He told me how your special gas took them all out in a second. My brother's an idiot though, without it he'd be dead now. So enjoy your tea, it's on me this time."

"Ah, thank you very much," Kabuto said politely. "It's good to know our work is appreciated." Karin bowed as well and they got their tea.

"Besides, two cute little lovebirds like you can come to my shop every day!" the man said as a goodbye. Kabuto sighed at this, Karin however got beet red in the face. Looking back at the owner, who already had turned away, she begun to stutter something.

"I... what... that... did he...!" Kabuto put one finger to his lips with a pained expression on his face.

"Let's just get to our seats," he said with a whisper, showing just how little he liked the association as well. Somewhat awkwardly, the two sat down under the shade of a large tree to sip at their tea. Kabuto thought to himself that it was really a pleasant day. It was cool too, many of the days thus far had been too hot, forcing them to hide inside their air conditioned labs. Not today however, today was a good day.

"But yeah," Karin said after a while, "What do you think I could do?" Kabuto remembered now why exactly they were here to begin with and nodded. Taking another sip from his mug of tea, he looked up.

"Yes..." he begun, "What you'll have to understand is this: Naruto-sensei expects the best from all of us, yet even more he expects truthfulness and prudence. Don't suck up to him, that makes him your enemy instantly. But the same goes for questioning him, challenging his authority doesn't end well usually. Do as you're told, as well as you can, and if you've got any criticism include it in the report."

"I understand," Karin said, "It's just that... at times he seems like an enigma to me." There was something almost wistful in her voice. "Naruto-sama's mind seems so far beyond mine, beyond all of ours... like he's more than just a man. Like he's one of the kami and all we can do is to obey and hope we don't anger him." Kabuto nodded slowly to himself as he suppressed the giggle of laughter that threatened to bubble up. By the previously mentioned kami, she had it bad didn't she? The admiration-induced infatuation had only grown in power. Yet, Kabuto wasn't kind or altruistic enough to leave this totally. Sure, he should make sure that things would work smoothly in the labs but she was wide open, he had to take this shot!

"Not at all, he is a human being just as much as any one of us," he begun, carefully setting it up. "He enjoys healthy food and is nearly snobbish when it comes to tea, he samples it like a gourmet. Despite his standoffish personality he cares for his little sister very much. He also gets unbalanced when things doesn't work out as he planned, one could almost say he panics a bit, acting on instinct to correct it." Harmless, humanizing traits Karin could just as well know. Time for the killing blow. "Also..." he whispered now, "Keep this to yourself, but he's never shown any interest in women. I think, just perhaps, that he might be gay." he finished and looked politely towards Karin, seeing how her eyes went wide, her face went pale and her mouth opened up somewhat. Jackpot! Karin had indeed had romantic feelings for Naruto-sensei and now they were smashed into pieces. Of course this was for the best, it was only half a lie and it would let Karin move on with her emotions and let the labs work better, yes that was a good justification.

"He...he..." Karin stuttered, the mug of tea almost dropping from her hands. Kabuto forced himself to not smile. It would be outright criminal to not keep this up.

"Yes," he continued, "many indications seem to point that way. Maybe you remember how Orochimaru's pleasures were disposed? Naruto-sensei did learn all he could from his master, it stands to reason to assume..." Kabuto had to pause for a split second, too wound up to keep speaking with a straight face. This was hilarious! Karin's face was more and more going towards grey and she seemed to have gotten a twitch in her eye. "...that he learned that as well." he finished, Karin for a second just staring at him before she turned her face down to the ground, her hair coming to obscure it. Kabuto looked away somewhat, letting the smile come out as he almost shook from laughter. The small things in life indeed.

"Is..." Karin begun now, "Is that how you can understand him so well?" she asked with a voice what was subdued and hesitant, "Are you two..." Kabuto startled a bit at this.

"Oh no," he said, making sure to keep his voice even, "Even if he would have a fancy to me then I am straight."

"Good," Karin blurted out now, the girl stopping after that with a slight gasp. Kabuto blinked now, not able to follow what was going on. Wait what?

"How so?" he asked, a sinking feeling having appeared in his guts.

"I... I respect you..." Karin begun, "a lot... you're as much an inspiration to me as Naruto-sama is..." Looking up at him, Karin revealed now two blushing cheeks and an almost coquette expression. Her entire body language showed it, her legs were together, her head lowered and her hands clasped in front of her. "It made me happy when you invited me out for tea like this Kabuto-senpai," she kept going, Kabuto feeling a distinct sense of panic now. He felt like he wanted to throw the mug at her as a distraction and flee, preferably by leaping headfirst over the fence. Karin visibly gathered her courage now and scooted a little closer to him. "I want to thank you for everything you've done for me." she said now, slowly leaning towards him, placing her head on his shoulder and Kabuto felt how the panic only grew. No, no, no! Karin's arm wrapped itself around his torso now and there it snapped for Kabuto, he was on his feet in a second and backed off as fast as he could.

"It's always nice to get respect ." he said quickly, "Goodtalkingtoyou,untilnexttime." With that, he turned around and half ran out of the backyard. Keeping up the pace, he was in too much of a hurry to get as far away from there as possible to notice that something was missing. Back at the teahouse, meanwhile, Karin had gotten out of the position she was in and now sat with her legs wide and body leaning forwards. Her elbows rested on her knees and between two fingers she held a small purse.

"Heh," she said to herself, "dick." Flipping through the purse a bit, Karin smiled wickedly to herself. Looks like she had enough for a new set of clothing now. This was gonna teach that silver-haired twit to mess around with her.

* * *

><p>Kushina found herself getting curious as she saw Naruto's young assistant come almost bolting out from the outdoor tea house. The young boy, Kabuto she remembered his name as, seemed almost in panic as he rushed past her and away down the next corner. A small furrow formed on her brow and while the grocery bag she was carrying was heavy she nevertheless took a small detour and came down that road to peek inside.<p>

She couldn't see anything, not at first anyhow. Naruto's other assistant, that girl Karin, was sitting with a wallet in her hand and a wide grin on her face. Kushina, remembering her youth, connected the dots pretty quickly and smiled. She couldn't tell precisely what had happened but she was quite sure that Karin had just pulled a prank of some sort on Kabuto. It made her happy to see, they were still young after all. Did that make her sound old? Probably, Kushina admitted that to herself as she kept going down the road. Then again, she was a mother of two, one of them being close to twenty... yeah she was old. A true, bona-fide obaasan. Yay for her.

"Good afternoon Kushina!" a voice said and Kushina looked up to see her good friend Mikoto a short distance away. Smiling, she changed her heading to come up to her raven-haired Uchiha friend.

"How are you Mikoto?" she asked. "It's been a while hasn't it?" Three weeks by Kushina's estimate. They had met at the academy when Kushina had come by to pick Kimiko up only to find that Mikoto had done the same with Sasuke.

"I hope I wasn't disrupting you," Mikoto said, "you looked like you were deep in thought." Kushina chuckled a bit now.

"Nothing important really," Kushina said and shook her head, "just thought about how old I am."

"You've also had those thoughts?" Mikoto asked with a smile or recognization.

"I'm not alone I hear," Kushina said with a smirk. "yes, I stopped being a girl a long time ago, been a woman for a long time. Any day now I'll start drifting over into old-woman territory."

"Oh quiet you," Mikoto shivered, "I'm quite happy to stay merely adult.

"Two children, one of them the ANBU commander?" Kushina asked, "face it, in a few years Sasuke-kun and Kimiko-chan will be adults as well and we can jolly well go play bridge somewhere and wait for arthritis to set in."

"Please don't remind me," Mikoto said, nevertheless smiling a bit. There was something resigned in the smile. "I already found a grey hair this morning," she told Kushina, who raised an eyebrow. "do you think I could hope to end up like Hatake-san at least?" she asked.

"I don't think Fugaku-san would approve of you getting that kind of haircut," Kushina grinned, "I'm most worried about wrinkles actually."

"I understand what you mean," Mikoto nodded, "but oh well, at least we'll have grandchildren to play with."

"You're thinking of that as well?" Kushina grinned and Mikoto winked.

"I think we've got a good shot still," she said, "Sasuke only gets more and more flustered whenever Kimiko comes up. I'm betting he has a hard time even looking at her at school nowadays."

"Good work," Kushina said, delighted to hear that it was going so well.

"How are things going on your horizon?" Mikoto asked and Kushina furrowed her brow.

"Not quite as good," she admitted. "Kimiko is a little... slow, at times." It hurts for a mother to admit something like that but Kushina couldn't deny it. What the girl made up for with her enthusiasm was the fact that at times she could be completely oblivious. "I'm doing the best I can though."

"Good luck," Mikoto said. "You know it's a pity we both had to get sons the first time around," she added thoughtfully. "If Itachi had been a girl we could very well have been getting grandchildren already."

"I'm not too sure about that actually," Kushina said thoughtfully. "I just can't see Naruto as being interested in girls. His lab work takes up all his time. There's no room for girls in his life."

"I suppose the same is true for Itachi..." Mikoto said, "then again, Sasuke and Kimiko-chan are both much more passionate." Kushina gave Mikoto a wide smile and a nod.

"Indeed," she said, "don't worry, one way or another I'll get Kimiko to notice Sasuke-kun."

"Good luck," Mikoto said, "Oh! Remember how I told you that I told Itachi about this? He's agreed to try to get Naruto on board on this as well!" Kushina's eyes widened and she couldn't help almost squealing in delight.

"That's amazing!" she exclaimed, "I can't... that's so great!"

"I know!" Mikoto said, "Itachi said it was an "interesting concept", in Itachi-language that means he loves the idea."

"You're making me ashamed of myself here," Kushina said, "why are you getting all the success?" Mikoto only winked.

"It was great to talk," she said now, "but I must get home soon. I've got a lot to do."

"Oh, good luck," Kushina told her friend, "I'll give you an update as soon as I get Kimiko to look the right way." Mikoto gave her a thumbs up and the two friends parted way. As Kushina walked home she couldn't help but smile to herself. Like Kabuto and Karin, her daughter was still young. With the right set-up perhaps one day there could be something sprung there, something utterly adorable.

A thought passed in her mind now though, a thought that brought her mood down somewhat. It was true wasn't it, she had never done anything like this for Naruto. For the longest time Kushina had been half convinced that her son's close friend Anko was the one he'd end up with if anything. But then the poor woman had died during a mission, leaving Naruto alone. Kushina would have brought him some nice girls to meet but he knew what her son would think about that. She had carefully brought it up once before, Naruto giving her one of the driest looks she had ever seen and told her that if he sought that he'd do it on his own.

Looking up at the sky, she thought to herself that she really hoped Naruto could find a nice girl some day, someone to make his life a bit brighter, a bit more complete. Oh hell, even a boy if that was how he was disposed. Kushina had pondered the idea and decided that it wasn't her place to complain. A thought flashed by in her head now in which Naruto and Itachi were involved and Kushina twitched. Bad thought. She wasn't going to actively oppose something like that but she still didn't like the thought.

Shaking the weird thoughts off her, Kushina started down the path to her home. Whatever the case was, she knew that Naruto could manage his life mostly well without her interfering. She'd save the meddling for Kimiko.

* * *

><p>Said little girl was at the moment rolling around on a bed. Said bed didn't belong to her though. It wasn't even in her home, instead being inside her brother's home and doing her best to make a mess out of his sheets. She was being bored at the moment. Sakura-chan and Ino-chan were busy, Sakura-chan with homework and Ino-chan with helping out in her store. It sucked! Sakura-chan was always busy with homework these days for some reason, even more so than before. And Ino-chan... she shouldn't have to work! She was gonna be a shinobi, why did she have to sell flowers?<p>

Kimiko was so bored at the moment that she didn't know what to do. So she rolled around, wrapping the sheets around herself in an attempt to get at least something to do. It was kind of fun actually. Round and round she went, wrapping herself tighter and tighter About the time she could hear the door open she had rolled herself into a cocoon inside the sheets and grinned to herself. Then however, just as her big brother came into the living room she realized that she had gotten stuck.

Her big brother stopped in the doorway, looking down at her where she lay like a giant sausage. Uh oh... He just looked at her for a couple of seconds, folding his arms and sighing.

"Really?" he asked her, Kimiko awkwardly grinning. Yeah this was a little embarrassing.

"Hi oniisan," she said with a smile, trying to defuse the situation. "How's work?" her big brother didn't answer at first, instead only walking up to her and grabbing the sheets that covered her. With one pull, she made Kimiko spin and the girl squealed as the entire room turned into a blur. She wasn't sure but it felt like she was mid-air as she spun around and when she landed it was with a thud and with the sheets off her. The entire room was spinning for Kimiko as she lay sprawled on her big brother's bed and she groaned. "uuuugh..."

"I literally cannot comprehend how you do it," she could hear Naruto say through the spinning, "how you'll survive as a shinobi I do not know."

"Hey!" Kimiko protested, sitting up now. She was given a bit of a pause when her head suddenly begun to spin again. Raising her hand to it, she had to support herself against the wall in order to not fall backwards again. Everything just spun! Still, after a pair of seconds her head was somewhat clear again. "I'll have you know I'm doing awesomely!" she told Naruto, who raised an eyebrow at her from his position by the workdesk.

"Is that so?" he asked mildly and Kimiko nodded angrily.

"Yeah!" she told him.

"Good for you," Naruto told her, "was there anything you wanted?"

"Not really," Kímiko shrugged, "I'm bored, Sakura-chan and Ino-chan are always busy nowadays."

"You didn't consider the possibility of using the free time to train?" Naruto asked calmly and Kimiko shrugged again.

"Nah," she said, "I wanted to see you." Now breaking out into a grin, Kimiko rolled on the bed and came to lay on her belly with her head up to look at him. "whatcha doing at the labs now? Something fun?"

"I suppose one might call it that," her big brother said and Kimiko looked up at him.

"So whatcha doing then?" she asked.

"Attempting a cross-discipline study of Konoha artefacts with the goal to ascertain and understand the techniques used to create them," Naruto said and Kimiko blinked. Nope, she didn't get what he was doing this time either.

"Sounds awesome!" she said nevertheless, if her brother did it it had to be awesome even if she didn't get it. Naruto gave her a look now and Kimiko grinned again. "You'll fix that right? Give it a week or two and you'll have it all worked out."

"I wish," Naruto said as he looked through some papers that he had taken off his desk, "We're looking at weeks and indeed months of hard work. Perhaps years."

"Nah," Kimiko said, "not with you around."

"Can you tell me something?" Naruto said now, "why in Kami's name do you idolize me so? I was absent for most of your childhood and yet you tracked me down and has pestered me for years now. What gives? Where does this admiration you show come from." Kimiko blinked now, looking at Naruto for a second before she rolled to the side, getting into a sitting position.

"Why shouldn't I?" she asked, "You're the smartest guy in the world and a super-awesome shinobi."

"And Minato doesn't fulfil the role as shinobi role model?" her big brother asked with an eyebrow raised, "he is the Yellow Flash of Konoha, the single greatest shinobi of our time."

"That's different," Kimiko said, "dad's well... dad. He's not awesome about it like you are. When you look at dad it's like he could just be any normal guy but you're never like that. You're always super-powerful and cool, and you're way smarter than dad too. Dad like talks to a bunch of people to make them do things, you do all sorts of awesome magic in your labs and discover new things and stuff."

"I do "all sorts of awesome magic in my labs" you say," Naruto said. For some reason he seemed a bit amused but Kimiko decided it had to be that he was happy to hear her say these things.

"Yeah!" she said, "You're so smart all the time, I can't make heads or tails out of anything of what you do. You're smarter than anyone else and like no matter what happens I know you're just gonna go into your labs and it's gonna be like "boom!" and then you'll come out with a solution," she said enthusiastically.

"Is that it?" Naruto asked and Kimiko furrowed her brow. For a few seconds she thought, folding her arms and legs both as she sat with a squint on her face and a thoughtful pout on her face.

"Yeah!" she eventually concluded, "at least part of it. Your turn now!" she continued, "what do you like about me?" she rolled to the side again and lay on her stomach, looking expectantly at her big brother, who raised an eyebrow. He didn't say anything for the first three seconds. Not for the first ten seconds... or thirty... or a full minute. Kimiko kept waiting though, looking happily at her big brother.

"Well..." he said after over a minute, "you have quite the determination..." he eventually said and Kimiko grinned. That worked for her. Bouncing off the bed, she threw herself into her big brother's lap and hugged him. "Careful!" Naruto exclaimed, fishing the papers out of her way just in time for her to not collide with them.

"Hey, what jutsu are you going to teach me?" Kimiko asked now, Naruto grabbing her by the clothes and with what seemed like a simple twist sent her spinning to land on the floor. She did land upright though, with Naruto's hand still clasped onto her clothes.

"That you will find out when you've completed the task I set before you." Naruto said. "Now I've got work to do."

"Aww." Kimiko whined. He always had work to do!

"Sorry Kimiko," Naruto said, "some other time."

"Okay..." Kimiko said sullenly. Then however she moved with the speed of lightning, throwing herself at Naruto and giving him another hug. "I love you oniisan." she said before releasing him and leaving with the speed and noise that was her signum.


	7. The family of outcasts

Ouroboros: The family of Outcasts. 

* * *

><p>Some days you just knew couldn't become bad. From the very moment you woke up you knew with all your heart that the hours that lay ahead would be great. For Namikaze Kimiko, today was such a day. Having woken up early, Kimiko now flew between her large wardrobe and the full-body mirror beside it. She was giddy with eagerness. Jumping into her usual bicycle shorts and red-and-orange vest with matching arm and leg-warmers she fixed her hair into two pigtails.<p>

She took a glance at the clock, thinking that noon couldn't come fast enough. When she was done she shot down the stairs to the kitchen, finding that breakfast was already on the table. She came down the stairs like a shooting star, heading for the breakfast table but ending up instead tripping, crashing down the stairs. She landed in a crumpled heap at the bottom of the long flight, her parents both throwing but a quick glance at her. They were that used to this and Kimiko was up in half a second this time as well. She landed in her chair and grabbed the chop-sticks instantly. With a speed that was amazing even for her, Kimiko wolfed the breakfast down. She didn't feel the taste, only being concerned with filling up her stomach so she could get away faster.

Her mom said something about taking it easy but Kimiko was too eager to pay her any heed. She put down the empty bowl after only a few a seconds and got up from the table, yelling a quick "thank you" before she shot towards the door. She came to a screeching halt as mom grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and forced her to stop.

"Mom!" she yelled in protest but mom was relentless.

"Sit down again," she told her daughter with a smile. "I know you're eager but I need to fix this. Kimiko started to struggle however, not interested at all in this any of this.

"I can't sit down!" she yelled, trying to get out of her mother's grip. "They'll be here soon!"

"Sit down!" mom told her again, this time with authority. It wasn't that much force but it was mom-authority, a kind of authority more potent than sage-chakra was amongst chakras. Kimiko went limp now and sat down with a petulant look on her face. She folded her arms and allowed her mother to start fixing her hair. She fidgeted a bit, earning a slap over her head by her mother at this.

"You know what Kimiko-chan..." her mother said after a while, "I think you've got potential for another hairstyle nowadays... let me try something."

"Mom!" Kimiko yelled, panicking. She tried to get away but a quick nerve-pinch from her mother made her limp.

"Don't fuss around Kimiko-chan," mom told her. "It won't take that long." Kimiko wasn't convinced though, she remembered last time when mom had started this, they had been keeping at it for an hour. As she slowly got her ability to move back she started thinking of an escape plan, her thoughts being rattled about by the fact that her hair was being pulled at. About thirty seconds later she had enough movement however to desperately throw herself off the chair, rolling in under the table and crawling in behind dad's legs.

"I don't have the time!" she shrieked, her dad choking on the soup he was drinking. As Kimiko got off the floor to hide behind dad she noticed something in the mirror out in the hallway, she could see it from where she stood. Her mom had untied her pigtails, giving her a curtain of hair down her neck but she still had two smaller pigtails. Blinking at the sight, she thought to herself that it didn't actually look that bad. Then she remembered what she had been doing.

"Looks great thank you goodbye!" She yelled as she was already halfway out of the door, heading for the Konoha main gate. If there was one area where Kimiko had always excelled it was psychical activities. Therefore she could dash through the village as fast as she did now. She flew through the village, the buildings around her turning into a blur from the speed. She just couldn't get there fast enough! The only part of her mind that wasn't focused on getting there as fast as possible remembered to stick to the rooftops. Dad had said that she shouldn't run that fast down on the streets and she stuck to that rule at least. Still, it wasn't like it went any slower for that and after only a few minutes she had gotten all the way to the main gate.

Flying through the air, she landed right in front of the gate with a heavy thud that kicked up a small cloud. The two ninjas manning the entry building startled as the girl landed and looked around with an eager face. Not caring that the two older shinobi stared at her like she was crazy, Kimiko tried to see if she could see anything. The eager girl looked down the road that led into the village, hoping to see something as soon as possible.

Five seconds later, in a display of the complete lack of patience that was her signum, she leaped up into the air, managing to get a grip on the lowest of the hinges to one of the massive gates to Konoha. Pushing away from there, she started a series of leaps, vaults and moves that got her higher and higher up the giant gate. After enough jumps she was high enough that she could reach the arc going over the gates and climbed up on it. From here she could see miles in every direction, however the only thing that still drew her attention was the road. Pacing back and forth, she tried to endure the wait. She knew that they'd be here early, usually they stopped for the night about three hours from Konoha, returning the journey at first light. That meant that they had to be here at any second! Why couldn't time speed up?

Kimiko was half a mind to jump down again and start running down the road to meet up with the people that soon would come. As she looked into the distance she was twitching with eagerness, like an anxious racing horse. But then, far in the distance she could see something moving on the road. Taking a gasp of giddy eagerness, she clenched her fists and looked intently at the shapes, almost giggling with delight. Please let it be them...

She kept her eyes at them, watching them like a hawk from her position on top of the gate. Soon they'd be here... soon...

* * *

><p>If there was one thing that he hated it was these trips to Konoha. While they did get a warm welcome and most times were seen as family (hell, last time the bloody Hokage had greeted them like distant family members and let them stay over at his place) he still couldn't deal with the whole concept. They were not Konoha nins and everyone knew that, he felt like equal parts a stray puppy and a traitor when being there. The fact that he now and then could find himself actually enjoying being there made it all even worse.<p>

Yet, if there was any doubt in his mind about things as they were they didn't have time to manifest physically. They had been running for three hours straight, starting at dawn and now rapidly approaching Konoha. Normally a trip like this took weeks but they had been moving with "mission-speed" all the time, leaping through the trees at top velocity for a bloody stay of courtesy!

He sure as hell wasn't going to complain though, the person that had set this speed wasn't gonna accept bitching. The boy guessed beast called to beast, the Jinchuuriki were always eager about these trips. And on yet another side, could he blame them for doing that? It was a strange family but to these poor sods it was still family, as much as anything else. Was he jealous? Heck knew.

As they could see the first outline of the gate the group sped up yet a little more. They were dashing at top speed now, the eagerness of the jinchuuriki in the group evident even if it couldn't be told from the face or posture. Thankfully, as they neared the gate, they slowed down. It wasn't a good idea to come dashing through the gate, that could raise all sorts of hell. Still, he was panting and felt almost like he wanted to throw up, running on a full stomach sucked in all sorts of ways.

As they approached the gate he looked around, still a bit fascinated by all the vegetation. Where they came from there wasn't nearly as much plants and wildlife, in fact it was utterly barren. Yeah woods creeped him out, sue him why didn't you. Approaching the gate, he looked forwards to getting in from the wilds and somewhere civilized.

When they were only a few dozen meters from the gate he felt something though. From above, something was watching them! Looking up instinctively, his eyes became fixed on something watching them from above. Standing on the top of the arc going above the gates into Konoha, a distant, hunched down figure could be seen. His heart skipped a beat at the sight, feeling like a mouse in front of a bird of prey.

As if to capitalize on this analogy, the figure hurled itself off the arc and dove from them, a shriek coming from it as it headed for them. He took a step back, reaching for the item on his back, when the person in front of him acted. Said person didn't move, instead only using the powers of the beast inside to make the sand he carried on his back in a gourd move, shooting out and wrapping itself around the attacker before it reached him. The move was quick, without hesitation and decisive. Hovering a few meters above ground, the figure first now could be identified.

Being as short as the average nine year old, in possession of a mass of red hair, a baby-cute face with what looked like whisker marks and vibrantly green eyes, the jinchuuriki of Konoha was easy to identify to say the least. Loud, hyperactive and childish, the person who had frightened him that badly was Namikaze Kimiko.

"Hey Gaara!" the girl said to the person who currently was suspending her in the air.

"Foolish," the Jinchuuriki of Suna, Gaara, said as he looked up at the girl. "You could have died," he said as his sand still kept her in the air. He didn't show it but it was easy to both his companions to tell that he was happy. Kimiko grinned at him at this, his remark seemingly not fazing her.

"Nah, I knew you'd have caught me," she told him as Gaara put her down. Without saying anything more, she jumped Gaara again, this time reaching him and hugging him. This was one of the most creepy things about it all to the boy behind Gaara. Normally the stoic boy's powers shielded him from any touch, the sand moving to intercept and hurt whomever tried to touch him. Yet with Kimiko that was no problem. Apparently the Ichibi feared Kyuubi enough that it didn't dare to oppose it's host when she tried to hug Gaara. This was the reason why this seemingly cheerful and loving hug creeped him out so badly. Yet; Gaara returned the embrace. It was a bit stiff sure but still, there was more emotion in that than what he had shown during the eleven months since last time they were here.

It took several seconds for them to stop hugging, enough to make him feel a bit embarrassed about it all and in the end he coughed subtly. Kimiko seemed to realize there were others there as well now and got off Gaara, grinning at the two others.

"Hi Temari, hi Kankuro!" she greeted them. "Are you staying this time as well?"

"That's the deal kiddo," Kankuro answered neutrally. Normally he couldn't stand kids or even people that acted like little kids. To him Kimiko fell neatly into both categories. Yet Gaara loved her, seemingly more than he even loved his blood siblings, and Kankuro didn't want to take that risk. Gaara was currently having one hand on Kimiko's hair, fiddling with it.

"You've changed your hairstyle," he stated, face as impassive as always. Kimiko giggled though and squirmed away from him. The entire scene was so sickeningly sweet that Kankuro got holes in all his teeth.

"Yeah mom did it," she said, rolling her eyes. "Can you believe that?" she said with an offended voice, "I was going here to greet you and she just like drags me back and tells me to sit down. I mean it's like..." Oh no, here she went off on a tangent. Kankuro mentally plugged his ears and thought about something else, something that didn't involve a diminutive chatterbox... Like hamburger steaks... damn he could go for one now... with lots of spicy dressing and fried potatoes, potatoes with molten cheese on top. He remained thinking about that for a while, feeling how his mouth watered. A large plate of it all, with some good soft drink to go with it. Kankuro remained standing by the gate, dreaming of that wonderful food. When he got out of the daze he realized something however. He was alone! Gaara, Temari and Kimiko had already entered the town, none of them sparing him a second glance. Kankuro now stood alone outside the gates of Konoha like some kind of idiot.

"Hey what the..." he shouted as he hurried after them, "Wait for me damn it!" Shouting and flailing, he hurried after the trio.

* * *

><p>"Yo, yo, yo, yo," the obnoxious musclehead beside her kept going as they leapt through the trees. "leapin' onwards, yeah, leapin' onwards. We're dashin' through the trees like a kunai thrown, we're serving the big K on his bigass throne, we're shadows in the night, we're a hurricane, leapin' through the sky and unleashin' steel rain."<p>

The woman was more and more beginning to reach the point where she wanted to strangle someone, preferably him. Thus far she had endured it in silence, thinking that if she let him keep at it he'd give up in the end. For that she had gotten to endure hours on end with endless rhyming, often paused here and there to start experimenting with new verses. Enough was enough though, now she exploded at last.

"For the love of everything that is sacred can't you shut up for five minutes!" she snarled, glaring back at her companion, who instantly fell silent. A look of surprise spread over his face, the musclehead finding it incomprehensible that anyone could disapprove of his rhymes.

"Damn sister, what's with all the the hiss," he said after a second, "You sure you okay 'bout all this?"

"I'm damn well okay with it all if you just can stop yapping for at least a few minutes, you're driving me crazy!" she told him, still gritting her teeth.

"Yeah yeah, cool. Ain't no need to bite my head off here..." her companion backed and kept silent now. For about a minute none of them said anything and the woman savoured the silence. It was almost deafening and she couldn't help but feeling deeply, deeply content at least for a short while. Then however, she was forced to remember that even though the man now leaping in silence behind her was her senior in age he was still such a child. Glancing at him, she could tell he was sulking. Whatever she thought about his rhyming, she still didn't have any right to be that much of a jerk to him did she? He loved it after all, she could have been much more polite about the whole thing.

"Okay, look here," she said now, stopping on the next branch. Her companion stopped as well, folding his arms and looking at her with a sour expression. She sighed at the sight, knowing that he had been hurt by her attack on his favourite pastime. "I don't hate your songs, they're not bad. But I just like to take this time to mentally prepare for the upcoming month. We're entering something that still is hostile territory in many ways, we'll be here for a month. I need to focus. So sing all you want, but can you please wait with that until we're done with the trip? Please?" she gave him a slight smile and held her hands up together now, hoping he'd accept it.

He looked at her for a few seconds now, the sunglasses hiding his eyes so she couldn't see what he was thinking. Yet, after a short while he grinned at her, raising his fist and holding it out against her. It was a bit silly but she accepted it, bumping her fist against his. As petulant as he was, he didn't hold grudges for long.

"Respect sister," he said now, "Let's keep a-movin' an' imma gonna wait with the groovin'"

"Hey, watch it!" she told him, holding up a warning finger in front of him. All she got for that was a wide grin though.

"Hey I'll be doin' the stoppin' when we've continued the hoppin'."

"Ugh." She gritted her teeth and leaped away to the next branch. A smug chuckle could be heard from behind her but really, she couldn't deny he won that one. Best to not give him any attention though, just like a hyper child that was what he wanted. The duo continued the trip in silence from now on, neither endless verses nor bad mood filling the air now. She felt how her mood steadily improved and when they could see the opening in the trees ahead she was already feeling like the following month might not be that bad after all. Admittedly, there was at least one thing she looked forwards to at the end of this trip.

Coming out of the trees near the gates of Konoha, she and her companion looked around themselves. These walls were impressive, there was no denying that. It would probably take a giant summon to crash through them. The gates that towered high above them, reinforced with both steel and charms, were as impressive. Barring S-class shinobi, you didn't get into Konoha other than by going via the gate, which was guarded, or over the walls, in which case you'd be discovered at once by the security personnel.

Any further thoughts about the security of the place was interrupted when something came flying at her. Hurling itself through the air, she had only just enough time to react before it hit her. Or... it and it, it was a person, a she. The small, hyperactive person that jumped her now and hugged her tightly was Konoha's jinchuuriki, a beautiful little child named Namikaze Kimiko.

"Yugito-neesama!" the girl squealed as Yugito returned the hug and wrapped her arms around the tiny kid that had latched herself onto her. Yugito did have to take a step back from the sheer force in Kimiko's attack but it didn't bother her. She smiled widely, happy to once again be where this wonderful little kid was, the closest thing to a little sister she ever would have.

"Hey ain't I gettin' no hug here?" her companion asked now, folding his arms. Kimiko's head popped up over Yugito's shoulders.

"I dunno Bee-jii," she said with a straight face. "You're too big, I can't reach around you." Speaking with her very own complete honesty, the girl informed Killer Bee about the facts. Yugito found herself having to grit her teeth not to laugh. Take that you musclehead! "No wait I got it!" Kimiko said now, leaping off Yugito and before anyone could react she had jumped up on Killer Bee's shoulders, wrapping her arms and legs around his head and neck.

"Hey watch the glasses midget!" Killer Bee shouted now, starting to flail in an attempt to avoid his glasses being damaged by the girl's hugs. Now Kimiko got something angry in her eyes. She hated being called on her short stature and didn't hesitate to take revenge in whatever ways she could. And now, being only centimetres from Killer Bee's head, she chose the easiest route.

She bit him in the head.

Killer Bee started flailing even worse now, stumbling back and forth in an attempt to get rid of the head-biting little girl. Yugito watched the sight with exasperation, disbelief and amusement in equal measures. She could hear how laughs came from the booth by the gates and glanced at it, seeing two Konoha shinobi she recognized. One of them, a man about her age with a bandana on his head and who was absently chewing on a senbon needle, met her gaze.

"After just one minute in Konoha," he said to her with a wink. "Sure you're not regretting anything beautiful?" Oh ancestors, there it came. The man was already starting to rattle off those cheesy phrases he used on her every time she came here. The worst part about it all was that she wasn't quite sure if he was sincere or parodying it. Beneath all that cheesiness there were signs of something much more subtle. Was he baiting her?

However it was with that though: Yugito wasn't here for that. Walking up to the still flailing Killer Bee, she raised one hand and poked Kimiko in the side. The girl was launched off Killer Bee, flying into the air with a loud squeal. Yep, still ticklish. When Kimiko came falling from the sky Yugito caught her with one hand, holding the girl up to face her.

"Come on hopscotch," she told the little girl with a smile. Kimiko didn't return it, instead she frowned angrily at Yugito with all the petulance only children could show. "We need to unpack." And then, just because she could, she made sure to ruffle the girl's hair despite her whined protests. After all cats were evil weren't they?

* * *

><p>He moved silently through the forests, feeling more anxious than he ever had before. On one hand he shouldn't be really. The sealed document in his pocket would get him in without any trouble yet despite that he was nervous, anxious and indeed even terrified. Why? This wasn't a dangerous mission. It wasn't a mission at all come to think of it. Yet still he found himself with a vague feeling of just wanting to run away and not take the risk.<p>

So stupid in a way. Why was he even bothering. This meeting wasn't a place he was welcome to, he just knew it. They already had their small family, why was he going to come and interfere with it? He, the... shut up brain, they were as much "things" as him after all and from what he had heard it hadn't stopped them. Leaping out of the forest and landing on the road there, he looked towards the left and saw the gates far in the distance. With a deep breath, he begun towards it, remembering the things that had led up to him doing this.

"_Indeed, once a year the jinchuuriki of Kumo and Suna comes to visit Konoha so they can play family together." _That single line, delivered with a voice as dry as could be an indeed even a derisive smugness had nevertheless awoken a longing in him. A family was something he never had thought he'd be able to claim for himself. The fact that he was a jinchuuriki remained as a big, fat barrier between him and anyone else. Oh sure, there were girls whose interest were sparked by the prospect of being with a jinchuuriki but he had long ago realized that all they wanted was a thrill. They expected a monster in human skin, a beast whose hunger they would get to enjoy... he just found that creepy. It wasn't at all what he wanted.

His longing for what he had gotten hinted might be found here had gone so far that in the end, when the his Kage had summoned him for a mission, he had done something crazy. He had refused, saying that he had a condition to make. The woman had only looked at him with that mysterious smirk and he had gotten to sweat for it .She had run rings around him for a long while and in the end he had made an absurd ultimatum. Either she let him go or he just as well died because he had little reason to live. Still, it had worked and now he carried a permission from her inside his vest. Whatever the later fallout it was totally worth it... he hoped.

The gates only came closer and closer and he found himself swallowing. What if they didn't want him there after all? What if this was some kind of misunderstanding? What if... shut up brain. This wasn't helping! Damn it... He straightened his posture, deciding that if nothing else he'd at least make a good impression. For master's sake he'd come across as a great shinobi to these people no matter what.

The gates were so massive. They reminded him of the fortress back home in a way in how they stood so imposing and proud. Konoha really was a powerful village. As he had understood it the man from here who had come to Kiri was only one of the legends in the making from here. It was humbling in a way and he swallowed again. By the gate a small group of people were standing going on about something. He didn't pay it too much of a mind and instead walked up to the small booth where two Konoha shinobi were sitting. They had already seen him and their gazes were wary if not hostile at least. It was kinda sad that that was an upgrade compared to home.

"You're a long way from home kid," one of them said, a bandana-wearing man with a senbon dangling from the corner of his mouth. He didn't say anything but merely handed them the letter which the other man accepted. Folding it open, the scarred man raised an eyebrow before he looked up and yelled.

"Hey you!" the man yelled, making the newcomer startle and look around. The small group further away now looked back at them. Three of them all in all they were, one tall, blonde woman who currently was carrying a small red-haired pipsqueak by the scruff of her neck. The third man was massive brute with arms almost like tree-trunks. "Talk about timing," the scarface yelled, "you've got another one here!"

Now he was on the verge of panic. What? Were those three... he realized that the blonde and the giant man both were wearing Kumo forehead protectors. It had to be them! Other jinchuuriki! What the heck, he wasn't ready yet! Could it really go that fast? What was he going to do now? The decision, it turned out, was made for him when the redhead untangled herself from the blonde's hand and came up to him with a dash that really kicked up more smoke than it should have.

"Are you a jinchuuriki too?" the girl asked eagerly, "What's your name? Where are you from? What does that symbol on your forehead protector mean? What bijuu do you have in you? Mine is the kyuubi!" He found himself blinking at the girl's eager tidal wave of questions. He literally had no idea what to do at all and just stood there. In the end the woman came up and knocked the girl on the shoulder.

"Calm down," she said, "you're overwhelming him." The girl stopped now, looking back at the woman who gave her a dry look before turning back to him with an awkward grin.

"Sorry," she said with some embarrassment. "I'm Namikaze Kimiko, it's nice to meet you." He realized that this was it. Taking a breath, he returned the bow.

"My name is Utakata of Kirigakure, jinchuuriki of the Rokubi." He spoke carefully, feeling like everyting would fall apart if he said one word wrong. "I... was told there would be a meet for jinchuuriki in Konoha at this time."

"Oh sweet!" the girl exclaimed, "you're from where oniisan is?" without any further ado the girl grabbed him by the arm and with a surprising strength begun to drag him into the village. Come on! I'll get you introduced to dad! He's gonna be super-happy another came!" Utakata found himself stumbling now as the girl begun to drag him into Konoha and he looked around in confusion at first.

Yet then after a while something changed. He didn't know what it was but this sense of relief just flooded him. He couldn't misinterpret this really. There was just no way. He had been afraid he was going to be turned away yet here the opposite seemed to have happened. With a sudden smile creeping up on his face, Utakata begun to move more smoothly.

As he had hoped before he now knew. This would be worth whatever fallout would come. Today he was for the first time in he didn't know how long utterly overjoyed, caught in such happiness that he didn't know what to do. He felt like he had come home.


	8. The springtime of youth

Ouroboros: The Springtime of youth.

* * *

><p>Today was the big day for the students at the Konoha Academy. Graduation day had rolled in and today was an even more special graduation day than usual. It was always an exciting day; graduation was nothing to scoff at. Yet today something extra added to this excitement, namely the fact that for once the title of "rookie ace", the informal title denoting the top scorer in the class, was all but obvious. It hadn't been obvious to begin with with the prodegies of the Sarutobi and the Uchiha family having fought tooth and nail for the top spot. Recently however another player had come into the field, namely Namikaze Kimiko, the daughter of the Hokage.<p>

The question on everyone's mind was as it was who would be the ace.

Would it be Uchiha Sasuke, the somewhat subdued and focued nerd who had always steadily excelled in what he did, whose mind was sharp and whose skills were immaculate?

Would it be Sarutobi Konohamaru, the angry and fierce grandson of the third hokage whose method of training was to take one flaw at a time and work on it until his hands bled?

Would it be Namikaze Kimiko, the daughter of the hokage and the most energetic person anyone had ever seen, who seemed unable to both tire and give up no matter what it was?

No one knew and the excitement in the room was enough to make it almost quiver. Kimiko was at the moment bouncing in her seat, sitting with a wide grin on her face as she fiddled with the forehead protector she was wearing. Feeling it was an awesome sensation and she knew that if her big brother could see her he'd be proud of her. She had passed like a champ! When Iruka-sensei had asked for a bunshin she had given him a bunshin! Everything was so awesome at the moment that she didn't know what to do with all the eagerness that was bubbling up inside her.

"Hey, when do you think Iruka-sensei will show up?" she asked Sakura who sat beside her. Her friend for some weird reason looked a bit down and Kimiko couldn't for the life of her figure out why she would look like that now of all times.

"I dunno..." Sakura said absently, looking around.

"Hey what's the matter Sakura-chan?" Kimiko asked, "we graduated! We're ninja now! Isn't that awesome?" Sakura smiled now and while it was weakly it was still a smile.

"It is isn't it?" she said and Kimiko grinned in response. Within a pair of seconds she had turned to look out of the window again. Kimiko didn't mind that though and instead looked around, feeling a bit devilish at the moment. Leaping out of her seat, she half bounced across the classroom and landed on Sasuke's desk. The guy was sitting with his nose down in the books as usual, startling when she landed.

"Heya!" she said with a grin, "think you'll beat me huh?"

"If behaviour were part of the exams you'd have flunked you know," he said as he sat up and clasped his hands in front of himself, "and yes, you will not beat me, plain as that."

"Oh yeah?" Kimiko asked, leaning in with her eyes narrowed.

"Yes," Sasuke responded.

"We'll see about that won't we?" Kimiko told him, Sasuke's eyes only narrowed in response. For a few seconds the two stared down each other. Then...

It was really an honest mistake. A student at the row in front of Sasuke's leaned backwards too much, ending up bumping into Kimiko. The girl was very small, tiny even, and she didn't have the mass to avoid getting pushed by it. The direction she was pushed in however...

A few seconds later the entire class was treated to a sight that left them all stunned. Namikaze Kimiko, one of the three candidates for rookie ace and perhaps even more relevantly, as uninterested in guys as could be, sat straddling Uchiha Sasuke, her peer in lack of interest in the opposite sex. Her arms were over his shoulders and his against her chest. What more they were lip-locked, IE kissing.

Sakura blinked over and over again, trying to comprehend exactly what she was seeing. For some reason, a trick of light or something, she had to be dreaming or hallucinating. Kimiko was not kissing, that just didn't happen. But it really did look like she was... NO THAT DID NOT HAPPEN WHAT WAS THIS?

Hyuuga Hinata felt like she couldn't breathe. The timid girl stared at the sight in awe at how brave Kimiko was. To-to do something like that in the middle of class! Hinata's face burned at the sight, she'd never be able to do something like that, the very thought made her tremble and she felt like she might faint.

Of all the stupid things that could ever happen, Sarutobi Konohamaru stared at the sight with something he didn't know if it was rage or disbelief growing in him. Was really his rival and that stupid little bimbo...

Nara Shikamaru sat up and looked at the sight with one eyebrow raised. What had he missed? Sure, his naps usually meant he missed out on things but how had THIS of all things happened? Was that geek Sasuke and the bounce-ball Kimiko really... Okay this was too troublesome to even try to get, he wanted to just look away but for some reason he couldn't.

Naruto blinked and looked up from his work, staring out through the window behind him. For some reason he had just been hit by a wave of irritation. He didn't know what it was but it felt as though he had just experienced something incredibly stupid. What more, he didn't feel like it was tied to the Mizukage. But what?

The silent was complete for a single second, everyone staring at the sight in disbelief. The sight was absurd but at the same time it was undeniable. They were kissing. There were no doubt about it and from how their bodies were positioned it looked like a quite passionate one as well.

Then in the next second the silence and peace, if one could call such a tense moment peaceful, shattered completely. Kimiko almost leaped off Sasuke, shrieking in what sounded like abject horror, and before the Uchiha could do anything she had clocked him straight in the face and sent him rolling along the floor. The Uchiha ended up with his back against the wall and with his glasses broken.

"What, what, what are you doing you dummy!" Kimiko yelled with a face bright red as she pointed an accusing finger at Sasuke.

"I wasn't..." Sasuke begun reaching up to touch his glasses, "the hell is your problem you crazy bitch?" he snarled after a while as he got up.

"My problem?" Kimiko hollered, "you're the one... you pervert!"

Things sort of deteriorated now and they did so with quite the amazing speed. Five seconds Sasuke and Kimiko were all over each other again, this time however it was violently and this time their classmates could intervene. Kiba and Chouji were pulling Sasuke in one direction while Ino and Sakura did everything in their power to hold back the enraged Kimiko. It was to this scene that Iruka entered, blinking at the sudden fight that had broken out and if the teacher was happy for his students or pensive over the fact they'd soon leave him it all came to be replaced with Iruka-rage.

"Sit the hell down you brats!" he roared, restoring order before it could go any further. Soon Sasuke was sitting in his seat with the still broken glasses on his face and a figurative thundercloud over his head. Kimiko sat in hers hunched over and with a slightly murderous look on her face. Iruka looked at the class and an irritated tic was building in his left eye. "I don't know what exactly caused this and I don't want to know. I'll let you know that it's making me seriously reconsider the team setup. If you're done fighting however, let's get it on with."

With the mood still being weird to say the least, Iruka bravely soldiered on, doing his duty and informing the students of what teams had been put together. It passed without any intermezzos, at least until it was time for the seventh team. "Team seven will consist of Uchiha Sasuke," the angered Uchiha looked up now with an attentive look on his face. The second name caused an explosion however, "Namikaze Kimiko." Iruka didn't come any further before Kimiko screamed in anger.

"What?" she shrieked, "Iruka-sensei, why must I be with that molesting pervert?"

"Pardon?" Iruka asked, looking up with a raised eyebrow. Kimiko pointed an accusating finger at Sasuke again. This time the Uchiha was busy hiding his face in his hands in sheer despair at the situation.

"You know what he did!" Kimiko begun, turning bright red again, "He...he...he..."

"They started making out just before you entered!" Konohamaru cut in now, the young Sarutobi's disgust evident on his face. "they made out and then begun trying to kill each other! PMS is my guess." Iruka blinked twice, looking at Konohamaru and then to Kimiko, who blushed bright red.

"I didn't!" she yelled angrily, "he did it all! He's a sick pervert and molesting dummy!" Iruka only sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Objection noted," he said after a while, "now please be quiet."

"But sensei!" Kimiko whined, Iruka lowering the paper he was holding and glaring at her.

"I said be quiet!" he roared and Kimiko sunk almost a full foot in her seat. Sasuke remained with his face in his hands and Konohamaru only smirked. He was probably the only one who enjoyed the situation, something he turned out to have to eat crow for when Iruka said the next name.

"As said," Iruka said, "Team seven: Uchiha Sasuke, Namikaze Kimiko and Sarutobi Konohamaru." At this the Sarutobi's eyes widened and his mouth fell wide open. After a second his face fell forwards and landed on the table as he pulled at his hair.

* * *

><p>The news spread over Konoha like a wildfire. The academy students were not the kind to keep secrets and especially not in the case of a juicy piece of gossip as what they had gotten to see today. Within ten minutes family members and relatives knew of it. Within thirty minutes friends and associates of said family knew of it and via that all of Konoha had heard the news within three hours.<p>

Indeed, Namikaze Kimiko and Uchiha Sasuke had been making out in class apparently. And as with all things travelling by hearsay, the rumour soon found itself warped more and more. They had been discovered in an empty classroom some claimed, others that the Hokage's daughter had sunken down into the Uchiha boy's lap at the start of the lesson and remained there before kissing him. The already saucy history came to in some cases take on almost obscene proportions. Some of the more loose-lipped amongst the citizens of Konoha started whispering things about how the jinchuuriki probably was affected by the bijuu inside her, the term "in heat" came up several times. Even amongst those who could keep the warping of their gossip to sensible levels found themselves with a plethora of different juicy versions to spread and said versions flourished throughout Konoha.

One will have to consider it a testament to the managerial abilities of the fourth Hokage that the men and women he had around himself at work were serious people who cared little for gossip. Still, it sort of came to bite the man in the proverbial ass as he stood completely ignorant about these rumours even as they flourished right outside his office.

It was first when he was walking home from work that he noticed that people seemed to stand and whisper on every street corner. He knew the signs that Konoha had gotten something new to gossip about, he had seen it before. This time for some reason though people fell silent as he drew near, meaning he couldn't get any insight into what it was about. He didn't think too much about it however, not curious enough to make an issue about the whole thing.

It was first when he got home that he started to notice the tell-tale signs of trouble. Unlike normally Kimiko was nowhere to be seen or heard. It was strange, it was too silent in the house. These two known facts, Kimiko's silence and the whispering in Konoha, combined with a third fact which in and of itself was harmless. This was the fact that his wife seemed incredibly pleased for some reason. He didn't think too much about it, after all he was hardly a man to deny his wife happiness, but there was something a little too smug about it. Standing by the stove, she looked like she had in the academy that time the biggest guy in class had challenged her to a taijutsu spar. Kushina had tied him in a knot and left him crying. The look on her face right now was identical to the one she had had back then and it worried Minato.

"Welcome home dear," Kushina smiled like the cat that got the mouse, "how was your day?"

"Okay..." Minato said, "you look very happy for some reason. What has happened?" Kushina smiled even wider if such a thing was possible. She looked like her daughter in the sheer intensity of her grin.

"Something wonderful dear," she said, turning around and wrapping her arms around him. It somehow scared Minato a bit now. What exactly was his beloved wife up to? "Kimiko-chan has started to notice boys." Minato blinked once and then twice, trying to comprehend what his wife had said.

Kimiko notice boys? The thought was absurd. His little girl was as uninterested as could be. He was certain that the only way she'd be interested in a boy was if he was a ramen chef. How in the name of Kami-sama had his wife gotten this idea?

"What?" he asked after a while, Kushina keeping up her grin.

"Haven't you heard?" she asked him and Minato shook his head, "apparently our little girl and the Uchiha boy shared a kiss today in class. It's all over Konoha!"

"What?" Minato demanded now, feeling how the disbelief started to give way to anger. "When! Why?" All sorts of horrible thoughts came to him in one instant. Uchiha? What were the Uchiha up to now? Had they really... It had to be like that, that was the only way he could comprehend it .The Uchiha were trying to get to him through Kimiko and they had sent Itachi's little brother to do it!

Suddenly Minato felt like he was out for blood. His father's instincts activated in force and he felt how he turned around and started towards the exit. All of a sudden the thing he had once been about to order Itachi to do several years felt like a very attractive proposition. A smaller massacre, one aimed exclusively at that little son of a bitch who had kissed his daughter!

"Where are you going dear?" Kushina asked mildly and Minato looked back.

"To murder someone," he growled, "most probably Fugaku!"

"Oh please," Kushina said, making Minato stop in his tracks from the sheer disappointment in it. He knew that voice, what exactly was with her now? His wife now stood with folded arms and a dry look on his face. "Fugaku isn't behind this you idiot, he's been sulking for years and isn't going to stop it any time soon. If you seriously think he's going to try something this roundabout to get back at you you don't know him at all. I'm best friends with his wife you know, the Uchiha isn't going to try anything like that."

"Then what do you call this?" Minato exclaimed angrily.

"A boy and a girl kissing?" Kushina asked calmly. "I'd call it just that. What's with you honey? A boy and a girl share a kiss and you start seeing conspiracies."

"Kimiko isn't like that!" Minato exclaimed, "for the love of... She's our daughter, can you really say that she's ever shown any interest in guys ever?"

"I didn't have any until you saved me from those Kumo nins," Kushina pointed out sweetly, "and perhaps that rivalry between them at school gave way to another sort of heat?" Minato just stood there flabbergasted, still refusing to believe any of this.

"I... where is Kimiko?" Minato asked eventually.

"Up in her room," Kushina said, "most probably she's on her bed daydreaming," she added happily and Minato shuddered at the thought. A thump could be heard from the second floor and Minato startled, Kushina only smiling widely. "shhh," the woman said, "she's gushing." Minato felt a twitch in his left eyebrow and a wave of rage. Kami-sama help him, he really wanted to murder someone!

* * *

><p>Up at Kimiko's room the girl was indeed preoccupied with remembering what had happened earlier today. There was however a distinct lack of gushing and daydreaming present in the young girl at the moment though. Conversely, there was quite the surplus of dreading recollection and horror as the girl was rolling in foetal position on the floor tearing at her hair.<p>

This was a nightmare! Why? Why had that happened? She had actually... she had accidentally... she had kissed that... that... that duck-butt-head! He had kissed her! They had kissed! Kissed! Like Mom and Dad did at times, she had done that with Sasuke! With him of all people! What was she going to do now? She had kissed him! That was bad enough that she had done that, but now she was in a team with him as well? Kimiko couldn't believe that had happened and would have given up all the ramen in the world to have this day wiped from her memory! What was she doing to do! How was she going to be able to stay in a team with him now?

Sitting up straight, Kimiko blinked as she tried to gather her thoughts. A kiss with Sasuke... Kimiko didn't know how she had imagined that her first kiss would come but it was definitely not like this, that was for sure. Swallowing, she found herself reaching up to her lips where somehow the sensation of Sasuke still remained. Then however in the next second she caught herself and furiously begun to shake her head. What was with her! This was a disaster!

She'd have to club him in the head, that was the only solution. She'd have to get something big and hard and slam it in his head so he'd suffer amnesia. Yeah, that was a good solution. Bash him in his head, that was the best option. She'd have to be careful though, Sasuke was smart after all and she'd have to ambush him, lay in wait so he wouldn't dodge it. Kimiko could just imagine what would happen then. He'd sidestep of something, deflecting the club and catch him by the wrist, pull her up to him and... WHERE THE HECK DID THAT THOUGHT COME FROM?

Kimiko shot up like a thrown kunai and begun to bang her head against the nearest wall to expel the thoughts. After knocking off several chunks of plaster with her forehead Kimiko stopped and stared down into the floor. This was the worst day ever!

* * *

><p>Across town her sentiment was echoed by her equally horrified "partner" Uchiha Sasuke. The young boy had been hiding in the back garden of the Uchiha district and been furiously practising his Kunai throwing. With limited success it must be said, not even one of the kunai had hit the target and currently Sasuke was tearing out the Kunai in rage, stopping first when one of the Kunai refused to come out of the wood. Grabbing it with both hands, he begun to tear at it with all his might and first after a while it came undone. Sasuke ended up stumbling backwards as it suddenly came out and he landed flat on his back.<p>

Why did this have to happen? Sasuke felt vaguely ill remembering what had happened today. He had managed to get through the academy without a swarm of brain-dead girls hovering around him like locusts and had managed to focus on his shinobi training completely only to have it all destroyed. Not only were the glasses Itachi-niisan had given him destroyed, he had ended up actually kissing someone, Namikaze Kimiko.

Yes, that really had happened. His glasses were broken as evidence of this. He had actually kissed a girl and said girl had been Namikaze Kimiko.

He still wasn't quite sure how it had happened. All he knew was that he had been sitting in class, staring Kimiko down as she was having one of her ridiculous episodes of hyperactivity. Of all the dumb things she had been standing on the desk in front of him. Then though, what had happened? For all Sasuke had been able to tell it seemed as though Kimiko had leaped upon him, landing astride him and...

Sasuke found himself thinking about it. She had been really light he thought. It made sense though, she was so small. Her lips had been soft too. Gah! What was wrong with him? Sasuke shook his head violently and started to get up. He didn't have time to dwell on that! He had to keep training! He might be a genin now but that didn't mean he was done training by a long shot. Especially not now! He was in a team with _her_, that... that... Groaning, Sasuke let his face fall forwards into his hands. He had no idea of what words to use to describe this whole thing. For the first time ever he cursed his loose-lipped mother. All that nonsense she had been spewing about Kimiko made it hard for Sasuke to look at her even before this. Now he felt like he'd start climbing the walls from equally much panic as frustration.

Was mother really being serious? Was Kimiko really infatu... love with him? No, that was absurd why would she then do something like this? Or wait when thinking about it, perhaps that really was it? The cogs in Sasuke's mind begun to spin in ways he didn't need but couldn't avoid. Perhaps Kimiko, as impulsive as she was, had been so excited that she couldn't help herself? If she was supposed to be crushing on him and considering how impulsive she was... And when realizing what she had done she freaked out and blamed him? Sasuke gritted his teeth, for some stupid reason it made way more sense than he wanted it to.

Kami-sama help him, what was he going to do now? And he was in the same team as her as well! Then again though, the thought came unbidden but stuck in his head. Was that really that much of a disaster? After all, if she was into him and all that... Could he grow into... what was he thinking? That was preposterous!

Any relief he felt over the fact that his rival Konohamaru was in the team was utterly thrown out of the window by this mess. It was horrible. How was he expected to be able to focus on his duties as a shinobi with this hanging over his head?

He'd just have to ignore it, pretend it had never happened. Kimiko had the memory of a goldfish anyway, hopefully he'd never have to think about this again. Mother's weird ideas be damned, this had officially not happened!

* * *

><p>As it would turn out however, life was not so kind to Uchiha Sasuke. Some time later, as his family sat down to eat, his father came to speak up. This was rare in and of itself to be sure, yet what the man brought up with his usual stoic coolness made Sasuke almost shoot up through the roof in panic.<p>

"I heard," Fugaku begun with his heavy voice between bites of the fish soup they were eating, "about your "fraternization" with the Hokage's daughter today." Even with all his willpower and focus Sasuke still cringed. Oh Kami-sama why? "Is there any truth to these rumours?" the man asked, looking straight at him.

Sasuke wanted to say no, he wanted to refute the whole thing and call it absurd. But he couldn't, not when father looked at him like that. His heavy gaze was aimed straight at Sasuke, making him revert to the age of 5 once more and making any resistance impossible.

"Y...yes father," he said after a while. "but, but not..." he begun in a desperate attempt to explain.

"That will do," Fugaku said and Sasuke cringed again. Not at father's words as much as mother's positively radiant smile.

"That's so wonderful Sasuke," she said happily and Sasuke just wanted to crawl under the table and disappear. "I told you the girl had feelings for you." Yes woman, you did that a billion times now please be quiet! Sasuke never would have said it but that didn't mean he didn't think it.

"I do not approve of what happened today," Fugaku said heavily and Sasuke gritted his teeth. For once he was happy for his father's strict attitude. That'd be a perfect reason to get out of this situation! Father disapproved, mother babbled, Kimiko was a hyperactive gnat who wouldn't remember it the instant someone shoved some ramen down her mouth. Yes, perfect, could he please get a normal shinobi career now? "I would expect a greater measure of discretion from you. Yet nevertheless, I will expect you to continue this relationship."

What? Sasuke felt a cold sensation stabbing him straight in his chest and how the coldness spread through his body. Had... had father just said that... no that couldn't be. He had to be imagining things. That just couldn't have happened.

"F-father..." Sasuke begun stiffly, feeling like he wanted to run away and hide.

"The Hokage's daughter would be a fitting match for you," Fugaku continued, "what more the bond with the Namikaze would benefit the Uchiha. I will expect you to charm the young girl in question my son." There it came, that tone of finality that tolerated no defiance. Sasuke realized he was utterly screwed. Father expected this of him now and Sasuke couldn't see any way out of it. This couldn't be happening! What had he done to deserve this? Looking up at his father, Sasuke swallowed and after a few seconds of desperately considering resistance he bowed his head.

"Yes father," he pushed forth, feeling a sinking feeling in his chest upon the realization that the mess he was in only seemed to grow. And why was everyone else seeming so unbearably pleased with themselves?

* * *

><p>The full moon hung over Konoha, illuminating the sleeping village with its silver light. Like the village, it also illuminated the lone ANBU commander hunching down on one of the telephone poles outside the Uchiha district. The face of the shinobi prodigy was thoughtful as he looked down on the house inside the Uchiha district where his family lived. His eyes were fixed on the window behind which his little brother would be sleeping at the moment.<p>

An eventful day to be sure Itachi thought to himself. It was equally much pride and happiness that he thought about what had happened. Sasuke had today taken a great step on the path of life, what he had done had now put him ahead of his older brother. That it was with Kimiko would make mother happy too. And yet Itachi couldn't help but feel somewhat melancholic. His little brother wasn't so little any more now. He had done something Itachi never had done. For him, the ANBU-commander, relationships and love was in the way of duty. He hadn't kissed a girl even once in his life.

He had always defined himself as someone who guided his little brother in whatever ways he could. And yet now? How could he guide Sasuke in something like this? It was a strange feeling, realizing one's limitations. Sighing to himself, Itachi acknowledged that he still had a lot to learn in life. He idly played with the small package in his hands, one of the very few concessions to a normal life he had allowed himself to. They were addictive, he could tell that. And yet they gave him a sense of calm so on this one point Itachi had let himself go.

Opening the package as he looked down to his brother's window, Itachi thoughtfully put one of the sticks inside it into his mouth. He let it hang from his lip as he pocketed the package, reaching up to take it between two fingers as he bit down. The crunching sound and the taste of strawberry that spread in his mind gave him a small sense of peace still and for that he was grateful. Pocky was indeed his one vice and he smiled sadly.

He had fallen for Pocky, his brother for a girl. All of a sudden Itachi wondered how long it would take for Sasuke to outgrow him as a shinobi as well as a human. It most probably wouldn't be long.

* * *

><p>Naruto sighed as he looked up at the roof above his bed. That feeling had come again, that feeling that Kimiko just had done something fantastically stupid. And yet, glancing to his side upon the sleeping woman there, Naruto decided that for once he probably was in no position to criticize her. At least that was one thing that was certain, whatever idiocy his sister would have caused it would not involve the opposite sex.<p>

For once it seemed big brother was the dumber one.


	9. 1001 nights of the Snake Sage AU

Ouroboros: Side Stories. 1001 nights of the Snake Sage

A/N: I dunno if this even qualifies as fanfic anymore. This, good people is basically me taking different plots, scenes and ideas from Ouroboros and shoving them into an oriental setting with modifications for the setting. Crack galore indeed. However do we have something here perhaps? I've yet to see a Naruto/1001 nights combo. Either way enjoy and yes, Ouroboros proper will soon be updated.

* * *

><p>The glass windows rattled in the storm that was raging outside. A distant thunderbolt tore through the sky and for a single instant it illuminated with its cold blue light the man standing in front of the window, looking at the drops of rain that struck against the window like so many arrows. The man was an aged, bearded figure with broad shoulders and a straight back. Strain of gray was visible in his blonde beard just like how the crow's feet had come to appear around his eyes. At the moment he was wearing a long robe and a scarf around his hair, standing with his hands fixed behind his back. While his face was proud and regal there was also weariness in it, a weariness which had set over him as he contemplated what might happen this dismal night.<p>

This man was Sultan Minato the Great, ruler of the Konoha Empire, one of greatest empires the world had seen. He was the glorious warrior and sagacious judge, the beloved father of the nation and the greatest ruler it had seen in centuries. Under his lead a grand yet crumbling empire had been forged together into one united nation again. Terrible invasions and horrible civil wars had broken out during his reign and they had all ended with him standing victorious. Its old customs and laws had been reformed and rewritten for the good of the people, the entire people and not just the nobles. Time and time during his reign it had seemed as if the empire was about to fall yet every time he had pulled it back from the brink.

And tonight he was so weary. The great Sultan silently watched the rain as he contemplated what might come to pass tonight. A choice was going to be made tonight, one concerning one of the empire's greatest heroes. One of those who had been his most valuable subject, who had done more than few others to keep the empire strong, might be a traitor. And what more, if such was the case it implicated his son.

The sultan had to his eternal shame never understood his son. It was not the fact that prince Naruto had been a child more interested in studies than the way of the warrior. That was a good thing to the Sultan; that his firstborn would be a sage rather than a soldier sat well with him. No it was not that. It was the fact that for ten years now the boy had been apprenticed to the possible traitor Minato was waiting for the final verdict on. Naruto was a brilliant young man. He was a calm and rational person, a sage already and a truly awe-inspiring mage despite his young age. Yet despite all that Minato had never understood him, never truly gotten him as a person.

One would not have thought that was how the boy's life would play out. He had been a happy child while young. While the Sultan had been occupied by the duties of his station he had nevertheless done all he could to find time for his child and wife queen Kushina both. His family was the greatest of all the empire's riches to him, that Minato had made clear from the beginning. This had been doubly true when Kushina had blessed him with a daughter and Naruto with a sister. For a few months there, as the queen's stomach grew and grew, Minato had truly felt that all was right in the world.

Then that damnable beast of chaos and calamity had struck against the empire. A fiend from the elder ages had awoken, a beast undefinable and terrible in its sheer force. This monstrosity had torn a bloody swathe through the empire and entire armies had fallen as they tried to stop it. The grand power of Konoha, which had turned back and indeed nearly undone even such a great realm as the Iwa federation to the north, had stood impotent against this thing. The thing's goal was clear; it was heading for the imperial capitol and it had seemed as though all hope was lost.

And yet, in the nick of time a coalition of grand heroes had come forth. With him at the lead they had met the beast just outside the city gates and in an epic battle put an end to the creature. Not killed, for such a creature couldn't be killed. Instead it had been sealed away. At the cost of the sage of sages Sarutobi Hiruzen the creature had been sealed into Minato's then only hours old daughter, named Kimiko.

A victory it had been proclaimed to be, yet Minato could only remembered the devastation the battle had caused, the tens of thousands who had died in vain against the creature, the uncountable innocent lives taken during its rampage and the chaos that had followed. Konoha had been weakened and needed its emperor more than ever before that day and Minato had rode out at once, leaving a distraught wife, a daughter with an ancient demon sealed into her and a terrified, confused son who couldn't understand what had happened.

In the chaos that followed the queen had been terrified and come to dote on her youngest child. Every care that could be given to Kimiko was given and prince Naruto... slipped through the cracks. He vanished more and more, his attendants trying to bring to the queen's attention how he spent more and more time in the library. The boy hardly ever left it and when one attendant had tried to force him out in order to bathe him the boy had screamed at the old man in a rage and ordered him whipped.

It had taken months for Minato to return home, finding his wife almost unreachable in her grief and his son alone in the library. As he had personally dragged the boy out and seen to his needs he had been too horrified to realize the miracle which had happened inside that library. At the prince's workdesk several giant tomes all lay, arcane tomes on the topic of the demon now inside his sister. The boy hadn't understood what had happened and therefore tried to understand it, _tackling tome after tome written by sages for sages and actually managing to slowly make his way through them. _If that had not been a miracle, then what would be?

Such shame they had felt, he and his wife. Such a disgrace for him and her to have the boy completely ignored. Minato had spent months piecing the empire together and now come home not to his family but to the seeming ashes of it.

And then an offer had come from an unlikely source to say the least.

Moving to one of the armchairs nearby, Minato sat down and sighed. Looking up at the bookshelves, he remembered that time clearly. The soul-wrenching regret was still there and he had in his darker moments thought too many times to count that when he one day stood in front of the almighty he would and indeed should pay with eternal damnation for this heinous betrayal against his blood.

"Great Sultan," a soft, smooth voice said silently to his left and Minato startled, quickly looking to the side into the darkness of the room. He had not noticed anything and been caught truly off guard. Sitting up somewhat straighter, he braced himself for the worst. Another lightning bolt crashed through the sky, illuminating the figure that stood a few meters from him with his head bowed respectfully. He wore white and light green clothes, the semi-robes of a sage, and wore a turban and veil as was customary amongst the mages.

"What have you found?" he asked lowly, his voice more raspy than he remembered it. The figure looked up and revealed his eyes, eyes which had once been deep black and which now gleamed with the strange, golden color of magic. Pulling down the veil and revealing a face much paler than it should be, his son held out a stack of papers.

"What I believe we both hoped would not be true," he said. Minato accepted it with a heavy heart and his son stepped back.

"Take a seat," Minato said almost absently and his son obeyed, sitting down stiffly in the other armchair. It hurt him to see his son being so stiff. The young man sitting across the small reading space from him was so far removed from the boy who had insisted on crawling up into his father's lap no matter the situation. His bronze skin was now pale white, his hair the same, and his eyes were the color of the sun. There was little doubt he wore the veil as much as possible, Minato had heard the whispers of how he had become a freak. And yet most of all for Minato it hurt that the boy now seemed to have stopped seeing him as his father. There had been years since he called Minato "father", "Sultan" being the only way he addressed him these days.

Focusing to the papers, Minato quickly begun to read them and what he read unsettled him deeply to say the least. Correspondence with the outlawed Red Dawn cult, thorough details of human experiments on living beings, indeed even notes on schemes to mind control the Sultan. The list just went on and on, Minato realizing that Naruto must have just picked the top of the iceberg judging from how compact the list of crimes his master had committed seemed to be.

It stood as clear as day and without any doubt the truth was evident. The Serpent Sage Orochimaru, one of the empire's greatest heroes and one of those who had fought alongside him stopping the demon all those years ago, was a warlock, a law-breaker and traitor.

That it would come to this...

"Where is he now?" Minato asked silently.

"He is preparing to flee the city," Naruto said, Naruto said. Minato couldn't help but notice how calm the boy was. "As we speak he is heading for the city gates. I was told to meet him by the hill within the hour.

"You heard him," Minato said and by the side of the window a suit of armor moved, one that had been standing so still one could take it for a statue. Carrying a heavy axe and a round metal shield, the man that now stepped forth wore chain mail and plate armor in equal measure and his face was covered by a veil of chain mail. An Immortal had stepped forth, one of the ten thousand elite soldiers who served as the royal guard and which were said to be the deadliest soldiers in the world. "Take a company of Immortals and apprehend Orochimaru. If he resists, kill him."

"Hayj!" the Immortal answered and Naruto spoke up.

"Wait!" he said, "respectfully great Sultan, you are sending those men to their doom. The snake sage will not be stopped by mere soldiers." Minato gestured for the man to stay and looked at his son.

"Do you have another suggestion."

"Let me lead them in this." So cold a thing to say! "I know the man's magic from the inside and out; there are few things he has kept hidden from me and many things I have kept from him. I can shield the men if he fights back" The boy offered to be the one to apprehend his master since ten years. To be the one to kill him if needed. It was so dutiful, so honorable, yet Minato only wanted to cry. He did not deserve a son like this, nor did Orochimaru deserve such an apprentice. And yet Minato found himself doubting.

"I could send Golden Fire magi instead," he offered, Naruto shaking his head.

"Respectfully mighty sultan," he said, "those men are amateurs compared to my master. He's the Snake Sage, one of the great heroes. Those fortune tellers will be no match for him. I am the only one who can stand up to him. The other sages are too far away to be reached in time and he does not know I am here in this moment."

"You plead with more passion than I have seen from you in years to be allowed to be the one throwing your own master in chains and manacles," Minato said quietly, Naruto not averting his eyes.

"Read the sixth paper mighty Sultan," his child told him, "I am part of his vile plans." Minato flipped over to said paper and when he threw a glance at ht his heart froze to ice. "When I became Sultan he planned to possess me," Naruto said, detailing what was in those papers, "take over my body and through that rule these lands. Whatever bond we shared he and I is secondary it seems to his vile greed. And if such is the case I will not be weak enough to keep crying for the affection of a man who already abandoned me. Give me the Immortals mighty Sultan and I swear that before dawn I shall deliver him to you, dead or alive."

Minato looked into his sons eyes, seeing nothing but determination in them. It pained him to see it, that cold and heartless gaze of someone who would do anything it took to achieve their goals. It pained him even more that he couldn't gauge where his son truly stood. For all Minato knew there could be something else hidden behind his seemingly sincere request.

Yet in the end, could he do anything else? The Snake Sage could not turn on the kingdom. He had to be stopped. Minato therefore slowly nodded.

"Follow the prince," the Sultan told the armored warrior, who saluted the prince by slamming his fist into the breastplate. Naruto stood up and bowed to his father.

"I will not fail you," he said before he turned around the leave, the Immortal following him silently despite his heavy armor.

"Stay safe," Minato said as his son left, too quietly for anyone but himself to hear.

By the garden outside the city gates, under the light of the moon which had deigned to come out, a single man was waiting. Stalking back and forth, the pasty-looking old man with a black turban and yellowish-white clothes looked this way and that. His yellow eyes were slitted like a serpent's and he had his teeth bared. Two saddled horses stood further away, anxiously tossing with their heads.

After a while this figure was given company. Over the wet rocks of the road a young man in white clothes came hurrying, carrying several tomes in his hands. The man waved frantically for the newcomer to come up to him.

"Your laziness will be the death of me!" he hissed with a hoarse voice, "what is happening in the palace."

"The sultan is aware of your actions master," the boy said as he panted, "he's ordered the Immortals to seize you dead or alive."

"Damn that whoreson!" Orochimaru hissed, "come, we ride for the north. I've got allies amongst the tribes of Oto. We hide there," the Snake Sage started towards the horses but Naruto stayed behind, looking after his master.

"No," he said coldly and Orochimaru stopped. Slowly looking back to his apprentice the Snake Sage let his eyes narrow. A sneer slowly crept up on his face as he looked at his apprentice.

"Even you," he said as the Immortals came hurrying up behind the white-clothed young man, "my apprentice?" The heavily armoured soldiers had already surrounded them with raised shields and drawn axes. They formed a perfect circle around the two.

"Surrender," Naruto said, "Your heroic deeds may yet grant you clemency."

"How graceful," Orochimaru spat as he took a step to the side. Turning his body sideways, the snake sage's face twisted in anger. "So what shall this clemency be? Medicine to quell the pain when my tongue is cut out? A pillow in the dungeon I will be thrown into? That the hangman takes off his hat before putting the noose around my neck?!"

"You can come peacefully or you can come as a corpse," Naruto said as he raised his hands and pulled down his sleeves in a symbolic gesture. Orochimaru only laughed however.

"No matter," he said, "We all will die one way or another after all… I'll just take you with me!" With that the man raised his hand and a cobra shot out from his sleeve. Launching itself at Naruto, the snake hissed with its maw wide open yet it didn't reach Naruto in time. Instead, the prince reached into his sleeved and took out a black powder from it. Throwing some of it straight onto the cobra he made it fall apart into ashes in mid-air and collapse to the ground in an uneven pile. Naruto now raised the hand and pulled down his veil, blowing the last of the powder straight onto Orochimaru. Like carried by a billowing storm the powder threw itself straight onto Orochimaru, capturing him in a storm of black ashes.

For a second one might have been forgiven for thinking it was over. The cyclone of black ashes seemed to have captured the man. Yet after only a few seconds the sands burst, flying in all directions as ropes shot out from them. The ropes wrapped themselves around Naruto and were stopped only when they burst into flames from a single snap of the prince's fingers. Moving said fingers in an arc, Naruto returned a fireball towards Orochimaru, who raised a hand to strike it aside, leaving it streaking through the night and straight into the Immortals' shield wall. The face of Orochimaru the Snake Sage was now twisted into nigh inhumanity as he grinned maniacally. The veil had been let go and now the man's vile insanity stood plain for all to behold

"So able," he hissed, "my errant apprentice? I should have devoured you a long time ago."

"Yet you didn't," Naruto said with an ice cold voice, "and that is your undoing."

* * *

><p>When the pale prince walked into his room he noticed that there were a couple of people he never had seen before there. Both of them were his age, the first of them a fair young woman with her long hair in a curious shade of pink and the second was a handsome young man with black hair, pale skin and a lithe yet muscular frame. Dressed in simple yet decorative clothes, the two were evidently waiting for him judging how they kneeled before him the instant their eyes met.<p>

"Your highness", the man said with a deep voice. The woman said the same with a soft one and Naruto walked up to them, stopping in front of the two. "The three houses sends their sincere congratulations concerning your elevation as well as their most sincere well-wishes. My name is Sasuke and this is Sakura," he gestured towards the young woman beside him, "we have been sent to offer you our servitude" Now the prince raised an eyebrow. Indeed? The three houses thought to ingratiate themselves with him? Amusing yet perhaps expected.

The three houses of Yamanaka, Nara and Akimichi might be commoners but through the centuries their power and wealth had come to rival that of the noble houses. They held an iron grip on three parts of life in the empire. The Naras were consummate gamblers who owned countless gambling halls and who ruled by the "board, card and dice" in the empire. It was said that millions passed through their hands every year. The Yamanakas had an equal iron grip on all pleasures of the more carnal, from courtesans who offered song and dance only and whose companionship would cost a thousand gold for one night to the shabby and diseased whorehouses down at the docks. Companionship no matter it shape was how they ruled. And lastly the Akimichi. Ironically this seemingly mellow and law-abiding clan was the most powerful of the three, being the kings and queens of food and drink. There were only a handful of inns in each province not connected to the great Akimichi house and from wineyards in the south to the nomadic cattle herders in the north the purchase, distribution and sale of these things were the Akimichi's. They had defined the empire as much as any Sultan, the three. Indeed old names such as inns were archaic these days. The term Inoshikacho, a place of gambling, companionship, food and drink all together, was the common word.

Yet who were these two?

"I have little use for servants," the prince said as he sat down in a nearby chair, "however I do not believe the three houses would have been ignorant of this fact. Tell me, what can you offer me?"

"I have been trained in all the arts of companionship your highness," the pink-haired woman said, "especially games and music to offer you whatever balms you may desire to lighten the burdens of your station."

"I have been trained to act as your agent in the shadows and amongst the people your highness," Sasuke said now, "for your benefit I will say no more." Naruto smirked internally at this. A courtesan of the more cerebral kind and a spy. If he needed servants he did suppose that this was the better kind. Also: having the Inoshikacho triumvirate on his side was a quite valuable asset he supposed. Still, these two could just as well be agents meant to keep an eye on him. Then again though that was the case with everything.

"Let your masters know their gift is appreciated," Naruto said eventually. "Do you play chess, Sakura?"

"I do your highness," the woman said. Naruto couldn't help but notice a slight tone of anticipation in her voice. That made him suspect that this woman was not just a player but a master.

"My set is on the shelf there," he said, "set it up. Sasuke," he continued,"when you've told your masters that I accept their gift and been told how your espionage on me should be done I have a parcel down I need retrieved." Reaching into his robes, he took out a small note and gave it to the black-haired spy. The two obliged quickly, Sakura moving to set up the board with graceful, almost dancing moves and Sasuke leaving as quickly as it was soundlessly. This would be interesting the prince thought to himself.

* * *

><p>"Shouldn't the riders be able to run straight forwards?" the young princess of Konoha asked as she looked at the table, "why can the serfs move two steps in the beginning? What's with that move?" The redheaded little girl was as energetic and lacking in decorum as always. Even in the beautiful silk dress she wore and the tiara peeking out from under her cowl she seemed more of a wildling child than a princess. At the moment she was looking at Naruto and Sakura as they were enjoying a game of chess. Or rather tried to. Ever since the princess had arrived with her attendants in tow it had been harder and harder to focus on the game.<p>

"As I've said before princess," Naruto said calmly but tersely, "those are the rules." He found his younger sister, quite frankly, one of the most annoying creatures in this world. She for some reason adored him and spared no chance to come by his quarters.

"But why?" she asked, leaving Naruto to sigh explosively. It would not have been nearly as trying had she been a person of introspection and contemplation like him. He would have tolerated her visits if they had been spent with her across the board instead of beside it and with a head filled with asinine questions.

"May I your highness?" Sakura asked sweetly now and Naruto looked dryly at her for a second. She had thus far been an adequate servant, this one. Her skills were immense both at chess and music and Naruto found himself enjoying her company. Eventually waving for her to speak up, Naruto watched the woman silently. "The riders are the empire's most flexible of warriors your highness Kimiko," Sakura now explained, "they serve best under the commander who understands to use their speed to move unpredictably and strike the enemy's flanks rather than charge. Their movement reflects this."

"Really?" Kimiko asked, looking at Sakura with wide eyes. That was also something that vexed the prince somehow. The girl did possess a profound curiosity but she was much too impatient for the studies of the world. "Is that the same with the serfs?"

"No," Sakura smiled angelically, "their first movement can be two squares simply because it speeds up the game and lets you come to the interesting bits quicker."

"Cool!" Kimiko said and Naruto flinched at the commoner-like expression.

"The honourable sage Iruka of house Umino!" the attendant standing by the door called out and Naruto looked up to see the scarred sage Iruka come storming in through the door with a thunderous look on his face as usual. His young sister's face meanwhile turned pale white and she shot up from her seat and darted for the back door, once again without any decorum whatsoever. The Immortal-turned-sage was even faster though and just as Kimiko reached the door a hand slammed against it and stopped her from opening it. Naruto couldn't help but smile now as the princess of Konoha slowly turned towards her teacher with a forced smile on her lips.

"H... honourable teacher," she begun, Iruka's face showing his fury.

"I am not amused by chasing you around the palace princess," the man growled, "to the study, now."

"Surely it is too late for..." Kimiko begun.

"If you have time to spend pestering the noble prince you have time to study," the former soldier told her icily. "Now princess, before I tie you up and drag you like a mule!" Naruto raised both eyebrows at this. What impertinence! The man should by right be flogged for something like that. Then again knowing who he dealt with it was probably the only thing that would work. Kimiko deflated now and bowed her head.

"Yes honourable teacher," she said meekly. Iruke took a deep breath now and rubbed the scarred bridge of his nose before pointing at the door.

"March," he told her and Kimiko begun to move. "My apologies your highness," he proceeded to say and bowed his head towards Naruto.

"No need to apologize," Naruto said as he moved one of the riders to capture one of Sakura's Immortals. "I would advise chains and manacles," he added evenly. Iruka nodded his head.

"The thought has struck me," he admitted candidly, "I shall leave you to your games noble prince." With that, he walked after Kimko and closed the doors. Right after that however Naruto could hear a muffled curse outside as Kimiko no doubt darted away again. Naruto noticed the small smile on Sakura's face.

"Anything you find amusing Sakura?" he asked pointedly and Sakura bowed her head.

"Forgive me your highness," the woman said politely, "the princess adores you quite profoundly. I was never blessed with siblings; I merely find myself a bit envious."

"Keep your envy to yourself," Naruto told her as pointedly. "It is your turn." Sakura bowed her head again now before sitting up straight and moving her remaining Immortal into a position that if Naruto took it it would provoke a long series of captures that would end with him in checkmate. Naruto looked dryly up at her before moving his king to the left. She might claim one of his sages due to this but that was also all. "I find myself wondering if it is the demon she acts as host for that bestows her with that wild personality of hers. I find her seeming more like an Iwa tribesman than a princess.

"I shall keep my opinions to myself as per your command," Sakura answered sweetly and Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Very droll," he told the woman.

* * *

><p>"How extraordinary," the black-haired woman said from her place on the divan as Naruto entered the small room. The mist from the hookah filled the room and Naruto felt the smell keenly. There was more than merely tobacco in that hookah. "The great prince Naruto comes to these quarters to visit a measly prostitute like me." "These quarters" referred to the fact that the large house in which they both were lay in a part of the city that generally was avoided by most nobles, namely the red lantern district.<p>

"As acerbic as always lady Mitarashi," he said and the woman smiled wryly at him. Naruto could tell from her eyes that indeed there was more than tobacco that she smoked.

"Come in little princeling," the woman said now, much less sarcastically. "There's space enough for two and smoke for four."

"I will have to decline," Naruto said politely as he looked around. Sure enough this was in no way outright bad quarters but to someone like lady Mitarashi, a consort to one of the great heroes of the empire, it came across as squalid. The lady only chuckled and took another sip of smoke from the pipe she held.

"Suit yourself prince iceberg," she said, "so what brings you here then? Surely you are not here for "that" kind of companionship, not with that pretty little pink courtesan of yours."

"I do not partake of her in such a manner," Naruto pointed out, "my appreciation for her is much more intellectual."

"Very well then," lady Mitarashi said with a chuckle before putting the pipe she held in its holder on the hookah and leaned back with her back arched. Slowly, her clothes seemed to almost run off her body and Naruto was treated to a sight that no man could remain unaffected by. Her lips slightly parting to let out a husky sigh, lady Mitarashi now revealed large parts of her soft skin and generous curves as she reached up to pull aside the flaps of her robe. Naruto sighed however and ignored the stirring sensations coming to him.

"Please desist," he drawled, "you've offered me a dozen times and my answer remains the same." Lady Mitarashi laughed at him now and donned her clothes more properly again.

"Really little princeling," she said as she picked up her pipe again, "you come not for my body or for my smoke. What more do you want?"

"I suppose neither of us will ever know," Naruto said dryly. "Why do you live here?" he asked frankly, the woman raising one eyebrow at him.

"Hm?" she asked.

"You are one of the finest courtesans in the empire," Naruto said, "what more you are a skilled enough sorceress that the title of sage is within your reach. I know you, you could succeed in so many fields, why remain here?"

"Little princeling," the woman said airily, "I am the whore of the traitor sage, a woman who drips of the poison that man spread across the empire. Unlike you, whose exalted father and whose valiant defeat of said traitor has made you a hero instead of a villain I am expected to poison whomever I touch. I am spat upon and reviled by you exalted nobles. A commoner I was born as and as a commoner whore I will die." She smiled at him now and the prince could see the pain in her eyes.

"Not if you had my sponsorship," he said frankly, getting to the reason why he was here. Lady Mitarashi put down her pipe now, looking at him with a surprised look on her face. Naked surprise was there, plain as day for anyone to see. She had not expected to hear this from him at all and she found himself unable to answer. It was a sight Naruto found glorious to say the least. To see his master's old consort for the first time ever robbed of her ability to retort was wonderful enough that he could have offered her this only to behold this. And yet there was so much more to why he did this. He might never have said it and indeed probably wouldn't, but this woman was in many ways the reason he had remained at least partially free of his master's control. Her constant playfulness and seeming defiance of her client had been a source of strength for Naruto. She was not afraid of Orochimaru and had many time clashed with him. More than once Orochimaru had banished her only to call her back after a while. It had opened Naruto's eyes to his master's failings and made it possible for him to remain himself rather than a pawn of Orochimaru. Naruto owed her far too much to let her languish in this place.

* * *

><p>The grand throne room was packed with people. Dignitaries, nobles and countless other people were all gathered to watch the great sultan reward the woman before him. Flanked by his wife and his two children, the man stood in full imperial regalia and was addressing the currently kneeling warrior woman who was on her knees before him. Naruto watched the ceremony silently with some conflicted emotions in him. On one hand what would happen sat well with him and yet on the other he hated public appearances so it balanced out.<p>

The currently kneeling woman had once been one of the snake sage's most loyal servants. Her name was Guren, a warrior-sage without peer and of mysterious parentage. Not even Naruto knew more than a little about her even after these latest months. Fortunately one of the things he knew was that she was a person of honor, one who Orochimaru had used like everything else. Guren's people had an alien but firm code of morals which Orochimaru had savagely circumvented and used, manipulating entire tribes amongst the Oto peoples into becoming his slaves. And yet some of these had retained their honor and when the more deranged of the Oto tribes begun to raid the empire these warriors had stood against them. Naruto would prefer to keep his hand in the matter hidden though. Better to let this woman and her clan have the glory, especially after the struggle had all but destroyed them.

"Let it never be said that Konoha does not honor its debts and rewards its heroes," Minato said now, "Even after a son of the empire tainted your noble people and turned them from their path there were still people who stood firm, stood nobly, and fought against his wickedness. And by this I can think of no more fitting reward than the highest I can bestow. Your tribe use the camellia flower, the one we name Tsubaki, as its mark, do they not?"

"They do, great sultan," Guren answered. While she was kneeling her head was still held high and proud.

"Then let it henceforth be known that you and your clan within Konoha's borders shall be known as the house of Tsubaki!" Minato stated firmly, Guren looking at him in shock. "From this day henceforth, you are part of Konoha's most exalted houses." Snapping his fingers, Minato summoned a servant carrying a green cloak with a white Tsubaki flower embroidered on it. "Rise," he said, "Tsubaki Guren, and take your rightful place amongst our most sagacious rulers, our noblest warriors and wisest sages." Guren stood up now, the woman towering almost as high as Minato, and the servant clasped the cloak around her neck. If anyone amongst the nobility found this decision objectionable they were now drowned out by the Immortals who lined the path up to the throne all slamming their axes against their shields.

"Long live the house of Tsubaki," a hundred voices thundered and Naruto could see the look on Guren's face. For a split-second their eyes met before she turned around to look at the gathered crowd. Indeed both of them knew to keep what truly had transpired up on the north silent. People didn't need to know it was Naruto's hand which had moved in this matter, turning Guren from an Orochimaru loyalist into the leader of the resistance towards said loyalists.

Let people have their heroes and let the ones propped up as such benefit from it, especially when the truth would only provoke disgust and horror.

* * *

><p>Entering the garden where the sultan would be waiting, prince Naruto struggled to keep his annoyance in check. No doubt had the sultan called him here for another of those heartfelt conversations he seemed to keen on trying to initiate between them. While the wondrous hanging gardens where he now walked was an amazing place Naruto had little desire to once again sit and politely try to dodge the old man's attempts to bond with him again after all these years.<p>

And yet as he entered the area where the Sultan was awaiting he did find himself surprised by what he saw in there. The man, one he had always assumed faithful to his mother, was sitting next to a stunningly beautiful woman in regal yet tantalizing clothes. She was paler in the skin than Konoha people usually were, with auburn hair that covered one of her eyes, the other sparkling emerald green. Her clothes were of the finest azure-colored silks and cut in a way that showed the world her beauty without any shame and which at the same time gave her the bearing of a queen. A consort was his first thought yet after a second he found himself hesitating.

"You called for me, great sultan?" he asked calmly and his thoughts about it being a consort came to him again when Minato all but bolted from his seat in surprise. The woman meanwhile only leaned back, supporting herself with her hands and turned to look at him with a mysterious small smile on her red lips.

"Ah, prince Naruto," Minato begun, clearing his throat. The man seemed as though he had been caught red-handed with his pants down and the woman kneeling in front of him for how uneasy he seemed. "good that you could come so swiftly."

"I am at your service great sultan," Naruto answered, "I see we have a guest?" he asked mildly and indicated the woman.

"I am Queen Mei of the Terumi dynasty," the woman said with a deep, husky voice, "regent of Kiri." Now that surprised Naruto. Kiri, the island nation far out on the sea, was one Konoha had little to do with as a rule. They were barbaric warriors whose nation had been a mire of conflict for over a century. Naruto wondered just what had brought this barbarian queen to Konoha and why did his father seem to embarrassed? Nevertheless he bowed his head.

"It is an honour to meet you," he said politely.

"And a pleasure to meet you," the queen purred, looking at him with something almost predatory in her eyes. "I have heard much about you, prince Naruto."

"My reputation precedes me," Naruto answered evenly. "I cannot say the same for you however your majesty. Your people are distant to these lands."

"They are indeed," Mei smiled mysteriously, "yet that can change very soon." Naruto came to the conclusion he did not like how she looked at him. It was a hungry gaze, a predator's gaze. Rumors about the Kiri women's appetite for men were of course well known to all sailors and yet Naruto had put little stock in such stories whenever he had come across them.

"You have me at a disadvantage your majesty," Naruto said now. What did this woman want?

"Queen Terumi has come to Konoha on a diplomatic mission," Minato said now, having managed to regain his composure enough to behave as a sultan should. "her nation has long been ravaged by conflict and yet now this has finally come to an end. The Terumi dynasty is now the sole rulers of the thousand islands of Kiri and she had come seeking bonds with Konoha. She has, simply put, asked me for a bond of matrimony between our dynasties."

Like lady Mitarashi had when Naruto had offered her sponsorship, the prince found himself now utterly stunned and without any words to answer with.


End file.
